A Hero Rising

by Aubrie Dionne

  On his signal, the Radioactive Hand of Justice infiltrated the city, followed by a stream of refugees. Snipers fired from high windows, but Dal was right: there were too many people rushing through to stop them all. Feeling as though she walked in a dream, Skye followed James down a paved street to a land reminiscent of a past century, a place she thought she’d never see.

  Motorcars whizzed down paved streets. The people crossed through a garden framed by apple trees, and Skye had to tear her gaze away to keep running in a straight line. Apples hung ripening on branches, and squirrels zigzagged across their path.

  James pointed above the tree line. “There! The control tower. If we can get to it, we’ll take over the city.”

  Skye checked her beamer. The energy cell was half depleted, but she still had a few shots left. “Let’s go.”

  People in white uniforms stopped and stared as they darted through the gardens toward the control tower.

  “They’re just biologists,” James assured her. “They don’t have guns. Keep going.”

  One of the white-coated men brought up a hand held mic and spoke into it as Skye stumbled over a crop of tomatoes, the ripe scent wafting up as she brushed the vines. This biodome made Thadious Legacy’s greenhouse look like a child’s garden.

  How could these people think there weren’t enough resources? Determination born of anger made her press forward. She’d secure this city and ration out the food the government hoarded. She’d make the world right again.

  They reached a chain-link fence and began to climb. Behind them lasers fired through the trees. Skye glanced over her shoulder as she shoved her toe in a link for a foothold. “More guards. The biologists probably reported us.”

  “Must go faster!” James shouted down as he straddled the top. Skye still had two meters left to go. “They know where we’re headed.”

  She curled her fingers around the links as she pulled herself up, hand over hand. She reached the top as James landed on the other side.

  Laser fire shot around her as Skye negotiated the fall. If she landed the wrong way, she’d break her ankles.

  “You can do it, Skye,” James shouted as the white coats burst through the tomato patch, followed by more armed guards.

  Skye jumped. The fall seemed like forever, then the ground rose quickly and she reminded herself to keep loose and bend her knees. Her feet hit the ground, sending a jolt of pain through her calves, but James forced her up. They scrambled behind a utility vehicle.

  The control tower stood out like a giant mushroom surrounded by guards on all sides.

  Skye chanced a look behind her. The guards had climbed the fence and were working their way down. Enemies surrounded them. “We’ll never make it through.”

  “Oh, yes, we will.”

  James signaled across the courtyard and laser fire shot out from the buildings around the control tower. Some of the gangmen had made it to the center of the biodome and were waiting for his command.

  The guards abandoned their posts, running at the gangmen firing in the streets. James gestured over his shoulder and they scrambled toward the door.

  James stopped before they went in and Skye bumped up against him. “Hurry up. They’re following us.”

  “Can’t be too careful.” He fired his laser inside at all angles and they slipped in, closing the door behind them. The antechamber was as quiet as deep space compared to the racket going on outside.

  Doubt crept in at the bareness of the room and the ease with which they’d entered. “What if the main controls aren’t here?” Had they just walked into a trap?

  “I know they are. Dal showed me a printout.”

  The handle moved, and James lunged. He grabbed the handle and pushed his body against the metal, holding it in place. “Find something to brace the door.”

  Skye scanned the room. Nothing. The walls were bare, the floor clear. She ran to a closet on the other side and threw open the door. Large bottles of water bigger than Skye’s head lay stacked in rows.

  “There’s nothing here.”

  She glanced over her shoulder. The door opened a crack and she saw the black uniforms of the station’s military guards. James gritted his teeth and heaved, and the door slammed in place. He shouted, “I can’t hold them back forever.”

  Pipes made from PVC tubing lined the wall of the closet. Skye wrapped her fingers around one and pulled. The tube didn’t budge. “Cyber hell.” They’d come too far to get shot down now. Skye’s veins coursed with adrenaline and fear. Shot down is exactly what would happen.

  “Skye, do something!”

  She kicked at the bottom of the tube where it curved into the wall. The first kick did nothing, so she tried again and again until the plastic panel holding it in place cracked. She twisted the pipe until the top bent off and fell back against the inside of the closet with the pipe in her hands. The air was knocked out of her and her muscles in her back stung. Forcing herself up, she ran over to James and jabbed the pipe in the door.

  James’s eyes widened. “Geez, where did you get that?”

  There was no time to explain. Skye wiped sweat from her forehead. “It won’t hold them for long.”

  “We don’t need forever. Just enough time to seize the controls of the city. Come on.” They climbed three flights of stairs, Skye’s heart pounding with each step. James whipped open a metal door.

  “Freeze.”

  Two men stood with their hands up and conniving looks on their faces. The one on the right, a man with gray-tipped hair and a sharp nose, spoke and Skye recognized his voice from the com link. “Don’t shoot.” His badge read LIEUTENANT TEHON.

  Everything about the situation screamed it was a trap, but Skye couldn’t figure it out. Her eyes scanned the room for someone lying in wait, but the circular viewing chamber was small and choked with computer panels. There was nowhere to hide.

  “Easy now,” James instructed them. “We’re taking over this station. If you want to join us, you’re most welcome, but if you get in our way, I’ll be forced to shoot.”

  Tension crawled up the back of Skye’s neck. She watched a drop of sweat trickle down the man’s cheek and wondered what thoughts flew through his mind. Would they blow up the station like Utopia and the State Building?

  “I’m just following orders.”

  James wiggled his laser. “And if everyone else jumped into a black hole, would you jump, too?”

  While James spoke, Skye noticed a strange light blinking on the panel behind the men. She didn’t want to distract James, but her heart rate sped and her gut churned.

  “There’re too many damned people in the world,” Lieutenant Tehon countered. “If everybody wanted what the higher-ups had, there’d be nothing left.”

  James couldn’t resist arguing. “So your answer is to block them all out and watch them die?”

  “Better that some live, than have everyone rot in hell,” he spat.

  “Who’s to say what hell is?” James countered. “Aren’t you playing God, then?”

  Lieutenant Tehon smirked. “You watch. With three thousand refugees flooding the streets as we speak, this station will turn into a rat hole within months. Everyone will be fending for themselves. There’ll be no food, no proper sanitation. We’ll all die a horribly slow and foul death.” The lieutenant’s eyes beat down on James’s. “You’ve killed us all.”

  His accusation had no effect on James. He looked the lieutenant up and down as if he were the murderer. “You have no faith in humankind.”

  “You gangmen have no sense of boundaries. You can’t keep stealing what isn’t yours.”

  “This is not Utopia.” James clenched his fist and Skye wondered if he’d knock the man out like he had at the party. “That food resource fed everyone in New York—albeit not equally, but at least it fed them all. This space station is unattainable to anyone without the proper badge. All I’m doing is opening it to the masses. I don’t want to hoard it for myself.”

  Skye wanted to k
nock some sense into James. He was philosophizing in a battle of ideals without paying attention to the flashing panels behind the lieutenant.

  She stepped forward, so close that the barrel of her beamer stuck into the other man’s belly. His fingers twitched as if he thought of lunging for the gun. Skye shot him a nasty look. “Don’t move.”

  Numbers counted down next to the timer. She drew on her knowledge of computer systems. If she was right, then this man lied.

  Skye took a deep breath and said, “No.”

  All heads turned to her. “You’d rather destroy the station than see it shared among the unchosen.”

  Lieutenant Tehon grinned. “I can’t let you have it. This control tower communicates with every colony ship that’s left Earth. I can’t allow you to sabotage them as well.”

  “We’re not going to. We just want a home.”

  James shook his laser. “Turn it off.”

  “All it takes is one little computer virus.” The lieutenant closed his eyes. Skye’s heart beat so fast it hurt.

  “He’s not going to tell us, Skye.”

  Skye turned her beamer on the controls and pulled the trigger, hoping she wasn’t too late. The panels exploded behind the men, sending everyone sprawling backward. Skye tumbled down the stairs as the room sparked into flames.

  She reached the bottom with her whole body aching. Her ears rang, and her head pounded. Every moment seemed like slow motion, blurred together in an incoherent dream. James. Where’s James?

  Smoke choked her and she struggled to breathe. Skye crawled over the debris across the antechamber. Large pieces of the wall had caved in, and flames blocked the stairway.

  No. No. No. James had to be here. He was standing right next to her when the bomb went off. They both would have been blown back by the force.

  “James!” She shouted his name over and over as the room heated up. Skye waved smoke away and saw a hand poking from a pile of rubble. She scrambled over and threw off a large piece of metal. James lay underneath, his black clothes covered in gray ash. Fear jolting her heart, Skye held his wrist, pressing her fingertips down. His pulse remained steady. She still had time to get them out.

  Skye kicked at the pipe bracing the door. The smoke grew and burned her eyes, thick as a curtain. Coughing, she dropped to her back and kept kicking. The handle loosened and she shoved the door open, pulling James out.

  Thank goodness no more guards were there to greet them. Skye dragged him far enough away from the burning building and began CPR.

  “Come on, James.”

  She pounded on his chest and tried blowing more air down his throat.

  “You said you’d never leave me.”

  James gasped in air and pulled himself up with a heave. “Where am I?”

  Skye smiled, relief coursing through her. She glanced around at the garden and the stars shining through the glass dome. “In our own paradise.”

  He winced as he tried to stand.

  “Don’t move.” Skye put a hand on his chest.

  His eyes flitted to the burning control tower. “The guards?”

  “They’re gone,” she assured him. “We did it.”

  “You did it, Skye. You destroyed the bomb before it could kill us all. You’re a hero.”

  Skye bent down and kissed his cheek. “I had a good teacher.”

  Gangmen emerged from the trees and the buildings around them, raising their lasers in salute. Two young men stepped from the crowd, laser barrels pressed against the back of an older man who looked a lot like Santa Claus in a blue suit. One of the younger men nodded to James. “It’s all clear, sir. The Radioactive Hand has suppressed any opposition. We’ve captured the leader of Outpost Omega.”

  The older man’s fingers shook as he reached across his rounded belly and offered his hand. “My pleasure to meet you. I’m Gregory Hollis, the elected civilian leader of Outpost Omega.”

  Skye helped James to his feet. He shook the older man’s hand. “I didn’t mean to cause such pain. I’m just looking for a place for my people.” James sounded repentant, ashamed.

  Relief relaxed the old man’s stiff expression. He nodded, stroking his fingers through his white beard. “I’ve seen the news about Earth. I’m sorry the military refused your entrance. I can assure you, I had nothing to do with it.”

  “You didn’t know Lieutenant Tehon planned to blow up the outpost?” Skye interrupted, suspicion eating a hole in her stomach.

  His eyes widened. “Certainly not. If I’d have known, I’d have staged my own rebellion.”

  James nodded. “The civilians will have free reign now.”

  Gregory Hollis blinked. “You’re not going to take over?”

  James shook his head. “You’re in charge, right?”

  “Elected by seventy-eight percent of the people.”

  “We’ll keep you in charge.” James nodded and the gangmen lowered their lasers. He stepped toward the old man. “Promise me everyone will be treated equally, with equal rations.”

  Gregory Hollis nodded as if he really were Santa Claus promising to give each child a toy at Christmas. “Consider it done.”

  After shaking the leader’s hand, James took in a deep breath and saluted the young men. “Go back to the ship. Open the hatch.”

  The men beamed as if honored to have such a task. “Yes, sir.” They jogged back to the others assembled in the main square.

  James looked at Skye and shook his head. “How did you know they were going to blow it up?”

  She shrugged, feeling as though she’d just been put through the recycling factory and been reshaped into a harder form she wasn’t used to. “I thought of Utopia, and how the government would rather kill than share it equally.”

  James put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Well, whoever’s left is going learn to share it now.”

  “I hope we have enough to go around.”

  “We’ll work it out.” James spread his arms over the vast garden stretching against the glass dome as if wanting to break free and spread into deep space. “All those colony ships are heading toward paradise, but we’ll make our own paradise right here.”

  Epilogue

  Skye adjusted the trail of her dress over the freshly cut grass. She’d never worn something so frivolous, but today she’d abandoned her scavenging rags for something they’d found in the station’s antique museum. Gazing up at the twinkling backdrop of deep space, she wondered how, in all the universe, she came from the dingy, rat-infested alleys to this bubble of paradise up in the stars. She’d made her own destiny, and changed the world at the same time.

  “Come on, Skye, we’re going to be late.” Carly pulled on her hand, holding a bouquet of real cherry blossoms. The little girl wore an embroidered, lacey dress as well, mirroring Skye like her own mini-me.

  “I think he’ll wait for me, but you’re right.” Giving Carly a wink, she led her up a hill where rows of white chairs were set up. All heads turned in their direction as light techno music drifted on a rhythmic beat. She felt like she’d fallen into some holoscreen movie, but today was all very real.

  James stood at the end of the aisle dressed in a suit. Seeing him wear such formal clothes made her laugh, but when she regained her composure, she focused on how achingly handsome he looked. He’d combed back his long hair, bringing out his strong cheekbones, and his eyes stared at her intensely as if they wrapped around her soul. If two people could find love in such hardship and chaos, then there was hope for everyone left behind.

  Acknowledgments

  I’d like to thank my agent, Dawn Dowdle, for believing in my manuscript and finding such a wonderful publishing company. Also, thank you to Liz Pelletier and Heather Howland at Entangled Publishing. Thank you to Kerry Vail and Stacy Abrams, my eagle-eyed editors who worked so hard to polish this manuscript. My beta readers come next: the best sister in the world, Brianne Dionne, and my mom, Joanne, for giving me support and intriguing insights. My awesome critique partners deserve num
erous thank yous: Cherie Reich, Theresa Milstein, Lisa Rusczyk, Kathleen S. Allen, Lindsey Duncan, and Cher Green. My flute teacher and life mentor, Peggy Vagts, comes next, for encouraging me to pursue writing and flute as dual dreams. And lastly, my husband, Chris, for allowing me the time I needed to work on edits, do research, and most of all, write.

  Biography

  Aubrie Dionne is an author and flutist in New England. Her stories have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, A Fly in Amber, and several print anthologies including Skulls and Crossbones by Minddancer Press; Rise of the Necromancers by Pill Hill Press; Nightbird Singing in the Dead of Night by Nightbird Publishing; Dragontales and Mertales by Wyvern Publications; A Yuletide Wish by Nightwolf Publications; and Aurora Rising by Aurora Wolf Publications. Her epic fantasy is published with Wyvern Publications, and several of her ebooks are published with Lyrical Press and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. When she’s not writing, she plays in orchestras and teaches flute at Plymouth State University and a community music school.

  http://www.authoraubrie.com

  http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

  Keep reading for sample chapters of TUNDRA 37, the companion novel to A HERO RISING...

  Prologue

  The Seers

  I’m losing her.

  Abysme guides the vessel in silence, her blind eyes rolling as she senses our course, two hundred years away from Paradise 18. She’s scattered her thoughts among the stars, and her mind drifts farther from the sister I once knew. I fear the machine has engulfed her individuality. She’s forgotten the meaning of our goal, the oath we took three centuries ago. Most of all, she’s forgotten me, creating an emptiness inside me more profound than the desolation surrounding us.

  If I had my arms, I’d reach out to comfort her and usher her back from the black abyss spread before us. As children, I kept her alive through the destruction, signing us up for the Expedition and winning two tickets off Old Earth before it succumbed to hell. But can I save her now?