Atlas Fallen

by Jessica Pierce

  Tesla reached for Jasmeen’s dagger and cut away the excess fabric around the hem of her ballgown. They needed to move quickly. The skirts would only slow her down.

  More gunshots crackled through the air, far enough away that they had to be coming from the antechambers.

  Both girls exchanged a worried look.

  They ran, bolting back into the ballroom. Tesla looked around in horror. The sparkling glamour of the room had been replaced by terror and confusion. A ring of Kyrartine’s guards herded the crowd at gunpoint as the Sec-Bots circled, striking down each guest one by one with a deadly flurry of pulse weapons. Tesla tried not to gag at the sight of dismembered bodies lining the stage.

  Jasmeen grabbed Tesla’s arm, pulling her toward a nearby staircase, but Tesla resisted.

  “We have to help them,” she breathed. “They don’t even know how to fight back.”

  Jasmeen’s face blanched as an elderly woman was mutilated by the mechanical arm of a Sec-Bot. “We can’t save everyone. The most important thing now is protecting the royal family. If Kyrartine succeeds, the entire planet will go to war. Millions more will die.”

  They hurried up the stairs, ignoring the fatal screams slicing through the air, and entered a carpeted hallway leading to the mezzanine rooms. They’d just reached the antechamber doors when another pistol blast reverberated through the walls close enough to make Tesla start, and she jammed her hand down on the door handle. “It’s locked from the inside!”

  “Move,” ordered Jasmeen. She slid a dagger through the narrow opening between the doors up to where it met the bar of the deadbolt, then kicked with all her weight. The lock gave slightly before moving back into position, but Jasmeen kicked again, and the bolt slid back enough to allow the door to open.

  Blood. So much blood. The metallic tang of it struck Tesla’s nostrils as she looked around the room. Daxton’s guards were slain in a heap near the far wall, and the Imperator... the Imperator’s face was nearly unrecognizable. Imperatoress Vivienne lay face down, still and unmoving, but it was the sight of Daxton and the gaping hole in his chest that made Tesla cry out.

  She fell to his side and pressed two fingers to his throat. Her body buckled with relief when she felt his faint heartbeat. “He’s alive, but barely. We have to get him out of here.”

  “Kyrartine is getting away,” Jasmeen said, pointing to a hidden door painted to look as if it were part of a massive artwork hanging on the wall. Lights flickered through the cracked opening. “If we don’t stop him now, he’ll escape.”

  Grief cinched Tesla’s heart. He hadn’t believed her. He’d chosen Kyrartine’s lies over trusting her, and now he was dying. She wiped her cheeks and took a deep, shuddering breath. “I can’t carry Daxton on my own. If you go after Kyrartine, Daxton will die—and then Kyrartine will win. Everyone on the Atlas will have been murdered for nothing.”

  Jasmeen paced, a dagger in each hand, before swearing under her breath. “We’ll get Daxton to safety. Then I’ll hunt the bastard down and kill him myself.”

  They dragged Daxton out the doors, but instead of going back to the ballroom, Jasmeen turned left, avoiding Sec-Bot patrols along the way. As they neared the grand atrium of the diplomatic level, the walls arched into a graceful synth-glass ceiling. Flags from each of the First World Union territories hung suspended from strings of silk. At the center of the atrium rested the crown jewel of the station—an enormous statue of the god Atlas kneeling within a fountain of water, his titanium shoulders sagging beneath the weight of a giant, crystalline Earth.

  They began jogging as quickly as they could while carrying Daxton’s limp frame, but Jasmeen suddenly yanked Tesla behind a potted plant. “Wait,” she whispered. “Something’s coming.”

  An eerie scratching noise bounced off the marble columns in the atrium just as a dozen Sec-Bots crawled into view. Both girls looked on in horror as the robots dragged human remains behind them, the dismembered limbs somehow caught on their mechanical joints. Tesla did her best to avoid the blank stares of two bodiless heads as she said, “What do we do now?”

  Sensing their heat signatures, the Sec-Bots rapidly formed into the straight line of a firing squad. Jasmeen and Tesla tightened their grip on Daxton. They were outflanked and outgunned. Dozens of spidery arms raised, pointing weapons at Tesla’s chest. She turned her head toward Jasmeen, bracing herself for the first shot.

  Jasmeen quickly pulled up the skirt of her ballgown, exposing a garter belt of items. She selected a small coin, yanked it free, and threw it at the fountain.

  “I don’t think a wish is going to save us now,” said Tesla.

  Jasmeen grinned and held up another small device. “Who needs wishes when they have bombs?” With a satisfying click, her thumb pressed a tiny trigger.

  Tesla flinched as the coin exploded against the statue, spewing shrapnel and shards of crystal throughout the atrium. The Earth burst into a million glittering diamonds. Jagged metal carved easily through the outer casing of three Sec-Bots, their inner workings igniting into a fiery display of wires and circuits. The force of the blow splintered the beautiful frescoed walls, and Tesla watched as boulders of synth-glass rained down from above. A large piece of debris struck the fountain and burst the pipes, which then sent a flood of water cascading onto the floor.

  The Sec-Bots outer shielding protected them from the mist of moisture hissing from the pipes, but their mechanical legs couldn’t seem to find purchase on the slick station floor. They wobbled like metronomes back and forth until a few finally toppled over into the rising water. With a grinding of joints and gears, they attempted to stand.

  “Let’s go, while they’re distracted,” Jasmeen said. Together, she and Tesla carried Daxton through an immense archway and into the safety of an alcove. “My microComm is back in the hydroponic gardens. I need you to make contact with Blitz.”

  Tesla fished into the bodice of her dress where she’d hidden the pendant before Kyrartine’s guards had seized her. “Blitz? Sav? Do you read?”

  Static. Then, “It’s about bloody time.”

  Jasmeen grabbed the necklace. “Blitz, can you do a station diagnostic? Kyrartine must have taken over communications to the surface, which means he probably has control of the power grid.”

  “He’s shut off power to nearly everything. Life support is fading fast,” Blitz replied. “A huge amount of energy is being diverted to one of the station’s ancillary satellite dishes.”

  “What about the Sec-Bots?” asked Tesla. “How is Kyrartine controlling them?”

  “I don’t know. The chip you gave me is the same type we used in your fightBot. Until we get off this dying heap of space metal, I don’t think I can crack it, but I think the satellite and the Sec-Bots are connected. Somehow Kyrartine is draining the station's power to control the automatons.”

  The lights went out, plunging the alcove into inky blackness. A few seconds later, the reserve power rumbled to life. But Tesla knew it would only buy the station a few more hours, at most. To conserve energy, the overhead lights remained off, replaced by the unsettling amber glow of emergency lamps built into the base of each bulkhead wall.

  The yellow haze cast Tesla’s face into a pattern of sharp shadows. “Blitz, can you scan the station for any areas that still show large amounts of energy usage?”

  Blitz’s voice squeaked with excitement. “I’m getting a power reading from the royal escape pod and another from a garbage dock below the Gulch. Quadrant thirty-three.”

  If you ever need help, you will find it at thirty-three.

  Theopoenne must have known about the attack. But how?

  Tesla turned to Jasmeen. “Kyrartine isn’t a pilot, right? That means the only way he can get back down to Earth is by using the royal escape pod. We have to go downstation and get to the garbage docks.” She raised the microComm to her lips. “Can you and Sav make it down to Minko’s club?”

  It was Sav who answered, his voice firm. “We’ll be there.”


  “Do you want to fill me in on your little plan?” Jasmeen asked as the comm ended and they lifted Daxton’s weight between them. His now crimson shirt pressed wetly against his chest, sticking to the wound. Despite the loud explosions, he remained unconscious.

  Tesla quickly explained how she’d met Theopoenne Fox in Madame Aldera’s shop and how the woman had left her a cryptic warning. She watched as Jasmeen’s eyes shifted, no doubt wondering if she’d been struck a little too hard in the head by Kyrartine’s guard at the ball.

  “The power is out all over the station, which means that if Blitz can get an energy reading, it’s not the Atlas generating the signature,” Tesla insisted. “The garbage dock is full of waste transport ships and Hull Walker vehicles. What if Blitz is picking up a reading on a starcraft that could fly Daxton to safety? This could be our only chance to get him off the station.”

  Jasmeen’s eyes fell on Daxton’s sallow skin. He’d lost so much blood already—without help, he wouldn’t last much longer. Her look of fear dissolved into one of fierce determination. “Whatever it takes.”

  Tesla squeezed her hand, and together they hoisted Daxton’s body between them, hurrying toward quadrant thirty-three.

  THIRTY-NINE

  THEY DIDN'T STOP, EXCEPT TO HIDE from patrols of Sec-Bots long enough to avoid detection. Tesla guided them around open areas, backtracking when necessary to distance themselves from the screams of ongoing attacks. With the deimark down, survivors rushed upstation to find any open lifepod. Tesla tried yelling at them to follow her, that there could be a way out through the Gulch, but not a single soul believed her.

  She knew in her bones they wouldn’t leave the station alive.

  The Gulch was a graveyard. An eerie silence permeated the shadows as Sec-Bots clawed their way over glossy-eyed bodies. The market stalls lay in tatters, their goods spilling out across the common area.

  They stuck to the perimeter, edging along the wall to stay out of range of any heat scanners. Up ahead, Tesla spied a familiar tuft of fire-red hair. Sav peered over the boy’s shoulder, one arm around the unconscious Freiter, and signaled them when it was safe to run.

  “There’s an—access—hatch—behind Minko’s club,” Tesla explained through breathless gasps. “He uses it to get to the furnaces.” Her muscles burned from carrying Daxton’s weight, but she refused to let him go. “If we can get through the furnace room, there should be a ladder that leads down to the garbage docks.”

  Sav waved a med-scanner over the Prime Heir. “I don’t think he can hold on much longer. It’s a miracle he hasn’t died yet. The nearest working medical bay is on Earth. His odds of survival aren’t good.” He injected a solution into Daxton that made the surrounding skin turn a strange inky blue.

  Blitz wiggled beneath Freiter’s arm and struggled to stand. “Then let’s get moving.”

  Jasmeen led the way, awkwardly shifting Daxton’s weight as they shimmied through the narrow hatchway. A wave of scorching heat made Tesla’s ball gown cling to her curves. She prayed to the stars she was right about Theopoenne’s message—otherwise, she was all out of options.

  As they neared the furnaces, a bright, fiery glow bathed the bulkhead walls. Molten liquid bubbled in a vat to their right. Tesla’s nose crinkled as the acrid stench of sulfur burned her nostrils. Light glinted off a jaw filled with mechanical teeth, causing her to jump, but it was only a row of titanium trash compactors.

  “Through there,” she whispered, pointing to a small opening up ahead. “That leads down to the garbage dock.”

  She turned back to make sure Sav and Blitz weren’t falling behind, but stilled. A sense of horror washed over her.

  Shadows moved along the wall.

  They weren’t alone.

  A single Sec-Bot, larger than the others, unfurled before a furnace, towering over the group like a steel titan.

  “HIDE!” she screamed.

  The Sec-Bot leapt forward, slashing wildly at their heat signatures. The blaze from the furnaces left it disoriented, and it cast its green scanning grid throughout the room.

  They split up. Sav pulled Freiter and Blitz into an unused trash compactor, while Tesla and Jasmeen hid behind a mountain of discarded draadhart limbs. Daxton’s body lay at their feet, his legs sticking out in plain sight.

  Jasmeen moved as quietly as a wraith, pulling Daxton toward her, but exhaustion caused her to lose her grip. With a soft cry of frustration, she used the draadharts to conceal him as much as possible, ignoring the sweat dripping down her face.

  Metal scraped against metal as the Sec-Bot neared. Tesla covered her mouth to keep from screaming as a long mechanical claw brushed her cheek. The robot’s scanner swept over them and nearly passed by before landing firmly on Daxton’s exposed foot.

  It crouched, preparing to leap on its prey.

  Tesla bolted to her feet, leaving the safety of her hiding place. “Hey, over here!” she shrieked, waving her arms to create a distraction. “Come get me, you mucking hackbrain!” Her soft shoes slipped on the floor as she quickly ducked behind a furnace.

  Sav and Blitz sprang into action, hurling bits of trash at the Sec-Bot to distract it even more.

  “Jasmeen, take Daxton and get to the garbage dock!” Sav shouted.

  “I can’t carry him by myself! We need to get rid of this thing!”

  Tesla dropped to the ground to escape the mechanical arm swinging at her head. The Sec-Bot connected with the furnace and a shower of sparks erupted. Using the moment to her advantage, she ran, legs pumping, until she could conceal herself behind the trash compactors.

  A chilling click, click, click reverberated off the walls. The Sec-Bot was toying with her, like a beast with its prey, seeking out her heat signature so it could complete its lethal directive.

  “Blitz, we need to lead the robot into the center of the room,” said Sav. “Do you remember the Da Nang Drift?”

  Blitz’s eyes widened. “That’s completely mental. I can’t—”

  “It’s the only way we’ll be able to get Daxton to safety.” Sav grabbed the boy by his shoulders. “I will never, ever let anything happen to you. Do you trust me?”

  Blitz nodded, though his hands trembled with fear. He adjusted his goggles, lowering himself into a crouch.

  Tesla hid, flattening herself against a panel of sheet metal. “What’s the Da Nang Drift?” she cried out.

  Sav’s voice lifted over the scorching heat. “Just a little something we learned on a mission in Vietnam. Can you draw the Sec-Bot closer to us?”

  Before Tesla could answer, a wall of steam burst forth from a nearby vent, sending her stumbling backwards. The Sec-Bot turned toward the rush of heat, clamping an arm around her neck and lifting her from the floor. Her feet lashed out against the mechanical torso, burning as they connected with superheated titanium.

  The robot circled her around to face the others. Her face contorted in a soundless scream as the immense temperature of the nearby furnace began to blister and burn the skin on the back of her left hand. The claws around her throat tightened, and the Sec-Bot cocked its faceless head within inches of her own as it watched her struggle to breathe.

  “Now!” Sav shouted.

  Blitz took off at a sprint. Ten paces away from Tesla, he dropped to the ground and slid through the legs of the Sec-Bot, passing underneath. She watched as he grasped a handful of circuitry and ripped it hard enough to dislocate several wires. The robot stumbled, releasing Tesla, who rolled away just in time to avoid its razor-sharp side legs.

  Sav was ready. He grasped a thin pipe overhead and vaulted forward, kicking the mechanical demon into the mouth of the open furnace.

  Synthetic wires hissed and screeched as they melted. Tesla shivered, watching as the Sec-Bot’s legs curled together, its eerie shrieks echoing off the walls until the sound faded to nothing.

  “Are you okay?” Sav asked, helping Tesla to her feet.

  The skin on her hand was blistered and raw. She cradled it against her g
own, nodding toward Jasmeen. “We have to hurry. I don’t know how long we have left to get off the Atlas.”

  Sav and Tesla lifted Freiter while Jasmeen and Blitz shared Daxton’s weight. Together, they all headed for the small opening.

  Jasmeen looked inside. “Are you sure about this?” she asked Tesla.

  “It’s a trash chute. The other ways down to the garbage docks are definitely blocked by Sec-Bots by now. It’s not ideal, but it’s the safest way to get there.”

  They agreed it would be best if Jasmeen went first to help brace Daxton’s body as it fell. With a short running start, Jasmeen vaulted through the opening. Blitz gently lifted Daxton against his chest and followed closely behind. Tesla’s heart pounded heavily as the two disappeared.

  “Age before beauty,” Tesla said.

  Sav nodded, hauling Freiter into the chute.

  Tesla looked around at the empty room. She’d spent the last year doing everything she could to escape Minko’s furnaces.

  Tonight, they were her salvation.

  The chute gaped open like a yawning mouth in the bulkhead, its teeth-like edges ready to tear at her flesh. With a deep breath, she took a running leap and plunged inside.

  FORTY

  HER BODY JOSTLED AGAINST the chute’s seams, sending searing pain into her already bruised torso. Her breathing hitched as her burnt hand slammed against a rivet midway through a sharp curve, and she couldn't help but cry out from the stinging pain. After what seemed like an eternity, she tumbled out to the floor of the garbage dock.

  “Tesla, get down!” a familiar voice shouted.

  She ducked and dodged to the side just as Kiyo snapped the neck wires of a Sec-Bot. He lifted her upright, and she flinched from his touch, jerking beyond the reach of his outstretched hands.

  The emergency lights were brighter here, and she could see that all around the bay, hundreds of Red Ashes and Skinners fought back-to-back against waves of Sec-Bots. Near a Hull Walker transport, Tesla saw the edge of Minko’s hoverchair overturn, spilling him to the floor. An enormous Sec-Bot with black markings covering its chassis towered over him. Minko raised his hands in defense, but the robot’s arm cut through the air, bisecting the crime lord’s upper body with a smooth, effortless motion.