Heir Ascendant (Faded Skies Book 1)

by Matthew S. Cox

  “Are you going to kill him?” Maya lay on her side and tucked herself under Genna’s good arm.

  Genna pulled her fingers through Maya’s hair. “Damn right. An’ I ain’t gonna use no gun.”

  “Okay.”

  “Be a couple days yet ‘fore I can deal with that issue. You stay the hell away from him.”

  “I will.” She kept quiet for a few minutes, listening to air swirling in and out of the lung under her ear. Genna squeezed her, muttering random swear words. Never had she felt so secure. So wanted. So loved.

  Maya burst into tears.

  Genna stroked her hair while making comforting sounds. Once bawling gave way to subdued sniveling, she kissed Maya atop the head. “He won’t lay a damn finger on you again.”

  “That’s not why I’m crying.” Tears kept flowing, though she grinned. “You’re a real mother. Vanessa wouldn’t have cared.” She would’ve told me to ask him for money first. Maya shivered.

  “Listen here, child.” Genna gave her a look like she’d been caught doing something wrong. “You go on an’ forget that woman. She ain’t mean nothin’ to you no more.”

  Maya snuggled in close and let out a long, relaxed breath. “Night, Mom.”

  he exit from her former home replayed upon the canvas of her dreams that night, but Moth seemed even larger than last time. Genna’s contemptuous anger had changed to a look of resigned determination. Maya found herself eager to be taped up and stuffed in the duffel bag, though whether she wanted to hide from Moth or because it represented her escape from that lifeless existence, she couldn’t tell. She rolled on her front before Genna ordered her to and put her hands behind her back.

  Her calm remained only as long as it took for the swaying bag to become still. The bottom hardened as though it had been set down on concrete with a gentle touch. She mumbled despite the duct tape gag, trying to call out for Genna.

  Somewhere out in the darkness, the raspy insectoid hiss of Icarus chuckling faded to silence.

  She waited for a little while before struggling. The dream had gone off script. This wasn’t what happened. Why did they decide to leave her in a bag in the middle of an old sewer tunnel?

  Maya grunted and strained, but couldn’t break the tape binding her. A few seconds after she gave up and tried to catch her breath through her nose, the zipper tore open to reveal Mr. Mason grinning down on her like a little boy who’d opened the ultimate holiday present.

  Her scream erupted in the real world.

  Genna woke seconds later and pulled her into a one-armed hug. As the barrier between dream and not solidified, Maya calmed. She clung for a while before the fear passed, then straightened up and yawned.

  “I’m gonna wound that man.” Genna pulled Maya into her lap and swung her legs around so she could sit on the edge of the bed.

  “Just a bad dream. Are you still hurting?” Maya rested her head against her mother’s shoulder.

  “I feel pretty damn good today.”

  Maya smiled. “Your eye isn’t puffy anymore.”

  Genna tried to move her right arm. “Still sore, but I think the nanobots are done. Just gotta get Doc to take this damn brace off.”

  “You should wait another day.” Maya leaned over and poked one finger at the irregular shaped holes in the latticework cast. “The nanobots build a framework for new bone to grow on. It won’t be strong yet.”

  “Now you sound like Doc. Where you learn all that?”

  A spaghetti strap slipped past her one-shoulder shrug. “People talked about drugs and medicine stuff around me a lot. Sometimes, I’d go with Vanessa to the office and sit there all day because she wanted me to be seen at a function later. I used to have to do intro bio and stuff, but I don’t think she wants me to take over Ascendant anymore.” Maya frowned. “I told her Xenodril’s too expensive. Why make medicine to cure people when the people can’t afford it?”

  “Oh, baby.” Genna hugged her. “You don’t gotta worry ‘bout none of that now.”

  The last vestiges of trembling at the nightmare faded from her muscles. She swished her feet back and forth, smiling.

  Genna picked at the nightdress. “First thing I’ma do is go scare up some real shit for you to wear.” Her expression waxed sympathetic. “Wanna talk about that dream?”

  Maya draped her arms in her lap and fidgeted with her fingernails. “I dreamed about you taking me again. Only the bag stopped in the middle of the underground, like everyone left me there alone. I couldn’t get out. Then Mr. Mason opened it.”

  Genna drew her into a near-painful squeeze. “Oh, honey. I’m so damn sorry. Maybe someday you gonna be pissed off at me for that, and you got every right to be.”

  “No.” Maya squirmed free and landed on her feet. “It’s Moth I’m having nightmares about. He’s the only one who really wanted to hurt me. There’s no food in here. I’m gonna go ask Sarah for some sandwiches.”

  “Okay.” Genna wiped at her eyes and got out of bed. “Damn. Feels like I’ve been on Bed Patrol for a week. I need a damn shower.”

  “It works?” Maya blinked.

  “‘Course it works. Why you think it didn’t?”

  Maya tilted her head forward, eyebrows a flat line. “Have you seen the walls in there?”

  “Heh. Ain’t as bad as it looks.” She waved at the hallway. “You want me to come with?”

  The color of the sky visible from the glass patio doors hinted that they’d both slept into the early afternoon. Mr. Mason would be in the Sanctuary Zone now, far away from here.

  “I can go. He’s not here now.” Maya put a hand on her stomach to still the grumbling, and walked to the front door.

  “Okay. Come right back.”

  “I will,” yelled Maya, while jogging down the hall.

  She unlocked and opened the door. Barnes sprinted by and forced his way into the broken elevator down the hall. Seconds later, a faint metal clanking emanated from the shaft.

  “Mr. Barnes?” She stared at the battered metal, wondering how he managed to open them at all―they looked beyond smashed. Interest waned in seconds; she rolled her eyes and headed left down the hall to Sarah’s apartment. “That’s weird. The elevators don’t work.”

  Two Authority officers in full armor came barreling out of the fire stairs at the corner while three more emerged from the main stairwell in the elevator chamber―the one that smelled like sour milk and puke. Maya gasped and darted back in her door. She stumbled to all fours for a few seconds in the living room and crawled up to a run. Genna stood next to the bed, attempting to get her bra off with one hand.

  “Mom!” Maya raced into a hug. “We gotta hide. Authority is here!”

  Genna scooped Maya up with her good arm and looked around as if searching for something to stuff her in. “They’re in the hall? Can we get to the elevators?”

  “They’re right outside… and the elevators are broken.” Maya pointed at the patio. “Can we hide there?”

  Disregarding her current state of dress―half a bra and panties―Genna speed-limped for the sliding glass doors. “Nowhere to go out there but jumpin’, and I ain’t know how ta fly.”

  The front door flew open with a loud bang. A pair of large blue-armored men shuffled in, pointing rifles at them.

  “This is an Authority lockdown,” said an electronically boosted voice. “Noncompliance will result in death. On the ground.”

  Genna sank to her knees, right arm stiff forward, left wrapped around Maya. “Please don’t hurt my daughter. She’s only eight.”

  Maya kept her head down.

  “Two contacts; one adult, one juvenile,” said one of the blueberries. He advanced, waving his rifle to the side. “On your faces.”

  Genna rolled onto her chest and spread her arms and legs out, but didn’t let go of Maya’s hand. Maya whimpered and mimicked the pose. Three more Authority officers walked in. Heavy boots thunked on the concrete slab floor as they spread out into the other rooms.

  Maya stifled an
angry yell when black gloved hands grabbed her forearm and jerked her hand away from Genna’s. The officer pinned her arms behind her back and secured her wrists with plastic ties before cinching another set around her ankles. Genna got similar treatment, though the officer fixed her bra in place once she had been restrained.

  He rolled Maya onto her back and held a brick-sized device over her. A bright flickering light from the underside made her squint. She caught herself firing an indignant glare up at him and tried to act frightened and timid. The man swatted the device a few times, grumbling. A few seconds after the light became steady, it turned pale blue. Maya shut her eyes and looked away.

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  An angry tone emanated from a similar device hovering over Genna’s face. The officer near Maya forced her onto her front again and added another tie, connecting her wrists to her ankles behind her back. Before she could gasp at the rough treatment, he picked her up by it. She screamed as the bindings bit into her skin, all her weight hung by four plastic loops. He hauled her out the door, carrying her like a briefcase made of person.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” shouted Genna. “She’s a kid!”

  Genna let off a grunt in time with a meaty thump.

  “Mom, help!” screamed Maya. She thrashed, unable to see anything but her hair and the carpet gliding by below. “Ow!”

  Sarah’s father shouted in the distance to the left, sounding furious. A loud smash preceded the delicate clinking of broken glass. Maya wriggled, begged, and screamed all the way along the hall to the stinky staircase and down to a fifth floor room where six Authority officers milled around a trio of portable computers. He set her down flat on her chest atop a desk only long enough to get an actual grip on her body before maneuvering her around more or less upright. A hard plastic strip proved a rather uncomfortable thing to sit on, and kept her heels wedged against her butt.

  “What’s your name?” asked a different armored figure. Little of his face showed through his visor, save for some black traces of a poor shaving job.

  “Lisa,” said Maya. They’ll expect me to be bossy. She added a sniffle, trying to sound anxious and harmless. “I’m scared! I want my mommy. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “No one said you did.” A gravelly voice came from the far side of the suitcase computers. “This is a routine security check. We’ll be gone in a half hour.”

  A more gentle gloved hand brushed over the side of her head and forced her to look up. This blueberry appeared to be female. “Kid does look an awful lot like her. How credible was the tip?”

  Maya cringed, bringing her right shoulder up to her head, hoping to hide the designer tag on the thin strap. If any of them noticed it, game over.

  “As good as anything these bottom feeders come up with.” A man with ‘Baxter’ on his nametag paced about. He looked as eager to get out of here as Maya.

  The female officer waved another device over her face. “Goddamned uplink error. Local WiFi’s probably down. Nothing in the onboard database.”

  Baxter shook his head and gestured at the wall. “These animals probably shot it too.”

  “Was working three minutes ago,” said the woman.

  “No one can hurt you now.” A different male officer approached and set his hands on his hips. “If you’ve been kidnapped, you can tell us. Whatever they threatened you with is a lie.”

  Maya peered up between strands of her hair at him. Yeah. I’m being kidnapped all right… by you assholes. She swallowed the venom that wanted out, and looked down. “No, sir. I live here.” Worry made for a passable fear substitute and allowed for believable trembling.

  “That ain’t her. M.O. would be goin’ nuts.” An armored man patted the woman on the shoulder. His nameplate read ‘Hammond.’ “I’ll put her with the other juveniles.”

  “You’re so sure?” The woman fiddled with her machine for another few seconds before giving up with a sigh.

  “Yeah, I met the little precious angel once. She’s like a smaller version of her mother. Thinks we’re like her personal servants or something. Threw an epic shit fit when I wouldn’t give her a ride to Emperor’s Plaza.” Hammond regarded her with a mild frown. “If this was her, she’d be telling us all about how much trouble we’d be in for treating her like this.”

  “How adorable.” Baxter rolled his eyes and walked out. “She looks so sweet and cute in the ads. Guess everything on TV is a lie.”

  “Hey,” said the gravelly voice. “None of you nobs forget that Oman owns Ascendant, and Ascendant provides eighty-six percent of our operating budget in this area. Official or not, she is your boss… functionally anyway.”

  “Man, that’s such bullshit,” said the female blueberry. “We used to be something more than corporate enforcers.”

  “Feel free to complain, Warren… but it’s your pretty ass that’ll be hittin’ the pavement,” said gravelly man. “And you ain’t got the body for strippin’.”

  The female officer glared off to the side, muttering “dick” too low for him to hear.

  Hammond put his hand on Maya’s head and turned it so she looked at him―or at least at his shiny visor. “Last chance, kid. You sure you’re not Maya Oman? Someone seems to think you are.”

  Maya grunted, trying to shift her weight off the painful plastic digging in to her backside. “No, sir. My name is Lisa.”

  “She’s at least a Citizen,” said Officer Warren. “Hey, wouldn’t Maya have a tracking chip? Flip her over so I can scan her hand.”

  Oh, no. Her mind raced. She couldn’t remember if she’d been chipped. Her breath seized in her throat. If they figure it out, maybe I can order them around? No. They’ll want a promotion for ‘saving’ me. Bile crept up into the back of her throat as Hammond rolled her onto her belly. Though the plastic strip connecting her hands to her feet stopped gouging her rear end, the riot ties bit into her ankles, making her whine. The officer waved a small object around her hands, and then her butt.

  “No signal,” said Warren.

  “Wouldn’t get one even if that was Maya,” said the man behind the computers. “Our dear little princess does not have an identity chip. Her mother figured it would make it too easy for abductors to pick the real one apart from the decoys.”

  Maya slouched with relief. One of Genna’s friends must’ve done something to mess with the facial recognition. She didn’t care why the blueberries failed to recognize her, as long as they did.

  “Couldn’t they chip them all?” Warren held her arms out. “Reckless not to chip a kid you expect will be abducted.”

  “Five grand a chip,” said a distant man. “Probably failed the cost-benefit analysis. That or she thought anyone stupid enough to try and abduct M.O. would be stupid enough to fall for a decoy.”

  “Great.” Hammond scooped her up, holding her at least like a person with a soul might carry a child. “I suppose harassing Nons beats getting shot at.”

  “Why’s that kid scanning as a Citizen?” The female officer caught Hammond’s arm before he could carry her out.

  “My mother is a veteran,” said Maya. “But she can’t afford to live in the Sanctuary Zone.”

  “Oh.” Warren seemed satisfied and put the scanner back on her belt.

  Hammond carried her out into the hall. Maya squirmed in a halfhearted protest, frowning at the thick grey plastic around her ankles. He brought her into a disused, grungy apartment two doors away from the Authority’s temporary command center, where the other kids had all been lined up on their knees facing the wall. Pick on the far right in the corner, the twins, Emily, and Sarah closest to the way in. All had been trussed up the same way as Maya. Pick looked frightened, but seemed to be able to hold himself together. Anton and Marcus trembled in silence. Emily wailed as if she’d skinned both knees. She alternated between begging to be untied and calling for her parents. The look on the redhead’s face made it seem like a good thing she’d been restrained, or she might’ve wound up shot. Her hip bag of t
ools was gone, hopefully hidden in her apartment and not confiscated.

  The blueberry eased Maya down next to Sarah. She shifted around and sat back on her heels. Sarah leaned against her, as close as she could get to a hug while hogtied. Hammond muttered a few words under his breath and glanced at a massive armored man near the window. Maya’s eyes widened; this guy could’ve probably gone head-to-head with Moth and had a chance―if he had metal arms under that suit.

  Several minutes passed in tense silence with the blueberries talking amongst themselves about sectors.

  “Are they gonna shoot us?” whispered Emily. She sniveled. “I’m scared.”

  “No,” said Maya. “They’re just searching.”

  “Then why are we bein’ ‘rested.” Emily coughed on snot she couldn’t reach to wipe.

  Sarah sighed, not even bothering to struggle. “They always do this, Em.”

  “Always?” whispered Maya, twisting at her wrist.

  “Like once a month at least.” Sarah huffed, attempting to blow a strand of hair off her face.

  “They linin’ us up like they gonna execute us,” said Marcus.

  Emily wailed again. “I don’ wanna be ex-cuted.”

  “Quiet,” barked Baxter. “Eyes front.”

  Maya gave up trying to get her hands free and glared at the wall.

  Hammond grumbled. “Hey, Sarge. Is this necessary? They’re just kids.”

  Emily stared at one of the assault rifles pointed in their general direction. She wriggled and wailed, begging to be cut free, promising to be good. Maya scowled at the floor in front of her knees. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. This frightened her far more than being taken by Genna and her crew. At least she’d been valuable to them. The Authority would consider her another worthless Non no one would miss. Being a child only stopped them from going out of their way to hurt her; if something happened at random, oh well.

  “Em, be quiet,” whispered Maya. “Do what they tell you and we’ll be okay.”

  “You didn’t serve in the Iraq campaign, did you, Hammond?” Sarge continued gazing out the window. “Sure, they look harmless. That tiny one dressed up like a doll almost makes you feel sorry for her. Out here, you can’t trust anyone. They’re all cuteness and innocence until you turn your back, and then one of the little bastards throws a grenade at you… or runs and grabs a weapon. You wanna shoot a little kid, Hammond?”