by Zach Winderl
He leaned his head close to his companion. After a brief exchange, he trotted off.
Atom turned and leaned on the railing, mimicking the bigger man as he allowed his attention to wander over the flow of the floor below. It only took a moment to pick Daisy out of the crowd. The pilot sat at a crowded table with a hard-looking woman on his knee. Despite her evident lethality, she sported a broad grin. The rest of the crowd leaned in, hanging on Daisy’s words.
The thin Charnal man proved harder to locate, but Atom eventually found him leaning against the far wall, engrossed in conversation with a pair of locals.
“Megi gave the nod,” the Gravix guard called out as he trotted down the walkway to Atom. “Bottle of the purest if the information turns solid.”
“That boke over there,” Atom gestured with his chin and turned his back to the floor. “The lanky one talking with the other two. I don’t know them, so I won’t call them anything other than bystanders.”
The first guard stood beside Atom a moment and studied the floor. “The one in the cap?” he asked.
Atom nodded.
“Get a bottle ready, but wait on it,” the burly moonshiner told the other man before heading back the way he had come.
The remaining muscle disappeared into the cell and returned with a plastic bottle.
As the man leaned on the rail beside him, Atom turned and looked out over the yard. “I’m new here, so this might be a stupid question, but where are all the guards? I just came from a block over and the place was crawling with armor just looking to put a gauntlet through someone’s head.”
“Dunno.” The thug sounded bored. “It’s the way things run. I can’t vouch for the other side of the ring, but here the guards give us free run most of the time. We know they could come in with the powers and we couldn’t do a thing to stop them, so we just keep our heads down.
“I suppose the uppers have a deal with the warden to let business do its thing, but on the real, there’s no difference.” The man shrugged and stared down into the yard. “From here, things always seem to flow, no matter who’s pulling shots.”
“And everything flows down the well to the warden?”
The man grunted. “Grav pulls.”
The pair fell silent. Below, Atom picked out a half-dozen people whose movement stood out. Atom glanced to the guard.
“You guys act quick,” he said, gripping the rail and tracking the stalking pack.
“No sense in putting off what’s coming.”
The foot soldiers converged on the unwary target and in a brief tussle that drew little attention, they subdued the man and dragged him toward the far gate.
“What’ll happen to him?” Atom grimaced as he watched the group disappear.
Before he could reply, the first guard crossed a bridge towards them. He nodded to his companion.
“Don’t rightly know,” the man answered and handed Atom the bottle.
Atom nodded thanks and sauntered back down the catwalk the way he had come. The bottle disappeared into his sleeve. He dropped his head to his chest in thought. His plans coalesced as he descended the stairs.
“What’s the play now?” Kozue asked.
“Not sure,” Atom grumbled as he hit the floor. “I’m thinking of taking the firebug out so we can get that off our deck. I’m still working on how to pull that off, but I’m thinking there might be a couple ways to tie it into something bigger, so it gets lost in the fray unless you’re looking for it.”
“Coffey was very specific about cause.”
“Harder to pull in a controlled atmo.”
“And you don’t have enough accelerant to fully accomplish the job, unless you can somehow contain the fire in a manner to afford maximum exposure and catastrophic system failure.”
Atom paused at the foot of the stairs lost in thought. A pair of inmates started to approach, but turned away when he looked through them.
“I need a spark. Just a tiny spark.”
“Even with a spark, I’m estimating the worst you can do is second and third degree burns with your current arsenal.”
Atom laughed and said, “I’ve got a plan.”
He set out across the yard with a spring in his step, like a shopper deciding which storefront would best suit his needs. “I don’t need to strong-arm the man or spit liquor in his face. I just need to convince him that my plan is what he really wants to do in the first place. And that’s always easier when drink is involved.
“Daisy, I need a spark. You have any ideas?” Atom continued to study the room as he wandered in the pilot’s general direction.
Daisy coughed.
“Can’t talk?” Atom craned his neck, searching the sea of prisoners to find where his pilot had docked.
Daisy coughed again.
“Well, if you can come up with anything that could give us a spark and be ingestible at the same time, let me know.”
“Ingestible?” Atom heard understanding creep into Kozue’s voice. “That could work.”
The cough deepened. “Gentlekins,” Daisy’s basso voice filled his head through the open com. “I think some of this drink has tickled the wrong pipes. I feel like I swallowed your pipe-light.”
Atom’s eyes lit.
“What’s yer harbor, cap?” A willowy young man sidled up to Atom. “You’ve a need, I can make arrangements.”
Atom started. The young man smiled up and ducked his eyes in a strangely familiar manner. Atom slowed his step and turned to face the stranger.
“You have that look in yer eyes that says yer searching fer something, Atom.” The youth drifted away and looked over the crowded room as people grouped and congregated. “Yer searching fer a treasure amongst these here stars,” the boy sang, waving at the throng.
“Wait.” Atom’s eyes grew wide in amazement. “Lilly?”
The baug laughed and gave a theatrical twirl. “One and the same.” The boy winked up at Atom. “But I go by Thomas in this form.”
Blowing out a breath, Atom shook his head in wonder. “You certainly take some getting used to. Although, you read me straight up. I’m looking to get my hands on an intake burner of a pipe.”
“Done.” Lilly turned and strolled away, leaving Atom alone in a state of confusion.
With hesitant steps, he began following the image of the young man, but soon lost the slender form among the green sea of prisoners as they surged and rebounded in a confined tide of humanity waiting to burst over the sea wall.
Shaking his head, Atom found his previous heading and began moving towards where he had seen Daisy sitting.
“Atom.” The pilot’s voice caught his attention and Atom turned to find his friend waving from a few tables away. Atom waved back and picked his way between the crowded tables to stand behind Daisy.
“What’s the good word?” Atom asked over Daisy’s shoulder.
“Won some and lost others.” Daisy laughed and held up the thin, metal playing discs for Atom to look over. “Don’t plan on making any cred, but maybe a contact or two amongst these fine pouge players.”
The other prisoners around the table shifted their eyes between Daisy and Atom before a smile and a shrug from the pilot seemed to answer their challenge. “Well,” Atom said. “That’s why we came over. That and to say hi to Kim.”
“You track him down?”
“Firm, and I traded for a present.” Atom slipped the bottle from his sleeve and held it discreetly where the table could see.
“That en’t cheap.” One of the pouge players raised an approving eyebrow.
Atom slipped out an easy laugh. “You can’t bring an old friend cheap still.”
“I’ll catch up with you after a few more hands.” Daisy nodded back to the table. “I’m still good for a touch more before I call it a cycle.”
“You can stay and keep feeding us your markers,” one of the other players said, a woman with an angry, fresh scar running across the bridge of her nose, and jabbed a finger at the pot with mock severity.
“Long as we all keep our hands above the table, it’s all good here.”
“I’ll give a fair hail for you.” Atom slapped Daisy on the shoulder and left. He turned his eyes up to the tier of cells as he headed for the stairs.
“Your goods, sir,” Lilly whispered in Atom’s ear as he slipped through the crowd.
“Back to—” Atom turned to her voice with a smile on his face and rammed a shoulder into a passing inmate’s chest, knocking the man off balance. For a moment the prisoner hesitated, then he bristled and stepped towards Atom with a fist raised.
Instinct kicked in.
Atom fell back a step and lashed out with a flat-footed kick that caught the inmate in the kneecap. The man fell with a pained grunt, taking out several bystanders. Before he, or any of the jostled prisoners could react further, Atom dropped his own knee into the man’s face with fight-ending force and scampered away in the confusion concocted by the sudden outburst of violence.
Ducking and weaving, Atom fled for the stairs in the far corner.
“Kozue,” he panted. “I need a little guidance to get to Kim’s cell.”
“Take the stairs ahead of you to the second tier,” Kozue replied in a calm voice that offset the uproar below. Without hesitation, Atom mounted the stairs, taking them three at a time as he pounded upward to his goal. “His cell will be the fourteenth in.”
As he left the stairs behind, chaos erupted below. Even as his pursuers plowed through bystanders with wanton disregard, Atom heard Daisy’s voice rise above the murmured cacophony. With a roar like a cornered bear, the pilot unleashed a primal bellow of rage.
“Cheat,” Daisy cried.
Atom chanced a quick glance over the railing just in time to see the hard-eyed woman soar over the crowd to land on another table, spilling drinks and scattering an assortment of gaming pieces around the room.
Turning back to the open path before him, Atom counted the passing cells.
He reached his destination just before his pursuers crested the top step. Ducking inside he found himself face to face with a slight, middle-aged man. The man reclined on his bunk reading a dog-eared book. Surprise spread over the man’s face as Atom dove under the solitary bunk and pulled a dangling blanket down enough to cover his presence.
“Throw them off and there’s a cut for you,” Atom hissed from beneath the metal frame.
“Of what?” the man whispered back.
Atom swished the liquid around in his bottle and saw the man’s feet touch the floor just as a cavalcade of thundering footsteps drove down the walk.
“What’s the fuss?” Atom heard the man ask.
“Boke took a poke at Dilly,” a new voice replied. “Busted his knee and face. I know he came up this way.”
“Fellow dashed through. Caught my eye. That’s why I wanted to see . . .”
“You say he passed?” the man interrupted.
“Far as I know.”
“He can’t be far.” The group ran on.
“You better be worth it,” the man said as he returned to sit on the edge of his bunk. “Is the commotion in the yard your doing as well?”
“That I couldn’t say.” Atom shimmied from under the bunk and edged close enough to the cell door to peek down at the tumult taking place on the block floor. Daisy had done his work escalating. Atom assumed Lilly had played a part as well. The yard seemed a seething mass of motion. As Atom watched, the gate groaned open and four power-armored guards waded into the mess.
“I can honestly say, I’m glad I’m not down there,” Atom said with a laugh as he returned to drop onto the far end of the bunk. “Name’s Atom.” He patted his chest with one hand and produced the bottle with the other. “I say we polish this off right quick before they decide to toss the block.”
“Kim.” The man held his hand out, palm up. “Arsonist by trade, artist by choice.”
Atom uncapped the bottle and took a long pull, wiping his mouth with his sleeve as he passed the liquor to his new companion. “Merch and merc depending on the day,” he said with a lopsided grin that sucked some of the tension from the air.
Raising the bottle in salute, Kim took a long pull. Atom watched half the bottle disappear like magic.
Atom reached into his pocket and found the pipe Lilly had stashed in their brushing. He pulled it out and started to dismantle the pipe. Wiping the bottle off with his sleeve, Kim passed it back.
“What have you got?” he asked.
“Pipe wouldn’t work, I’m trying a quick clean to see if it’s just jammed up.” He took a quick nip at the bottle and as he wiped the mouth off as Kim had done, he dropped the ignition filament in the bottle. Then, with a grimace he passed the bottle back.
“Too strong for me, kill it,” he said, blinking away tears. Kim shrugged and upended the bottle. Just as he finished the last pull, Atom asked, “Remember a law-bringer named Coffey?”
Kim sputtered. He narrowed his eyes over the bottom of the bottle, but continued to pull until he had drained every drop of the precious liquid. As the firebat lowered the bottle with a question on his lips, Atom slipped from the bed and edged towards the cell door.
“Hope this works,” Atom said through gritted teeth.
“What are you talking about?” Kim coughed and thumped his chest. “Yeah, I remember Coffey. She had it out for me, but could never pin anything on me.” Kim grinned.
“That drink’s from her.” Atom had reached the edge of the cell.
The firebug coughed again. Then he took a deep breath. The filament ignited the fumes of the grain alcohol.
The explosion launched Atom over the railing. Flame roiled around his feet as he flew through the air. A knot of milling prisoners softened his landing, but the impact still knocked the wind from his lungs.
For a moment, Atom lay in a crumpled heap. Wrenching convulsions wracked his shoulders as he fought to regain his breath.
“Atom,” Kozue called through the haze creeping at the edge of his vision. “You need to get up. Daisy needs your help and the two of you need to get out of this block or you’ll end up in lockup. As it is, they will probably lock down this block with you in it.”
Blinking away the woozy effects of the impact, Atom staggered to his feet. Chaos swirled around him. Prisoners fought to escape the swirling smoke billowing from Kim’s cell while trying to surrender to the onrushing guards.
A second later, all atmosphere from the block purged. Smoke, fire, and breathable air fled to the reaches of space as the system killed the fire.
Atom felt his lungs threaten to pull out through his mouth.
“Five seconds to purge end,” Kozue said, her voice distant and tinny in the near vacuum. “There should be no lasting harm.”
Five seconds felt like five levels of hell as Atom’s body revolted against his brain.
***
When Atom came to, he lay sprawled on his belly on his bunk.
“What in the blazing Palm happened?” he demanded in a half-slurred attempt at speech. “I thought you said no lasting harm.”
“You’re fine, Atom,” Kozue replied with a tickle of laughter in her voice.
Atom rolled over, trying to peel open his sand-gritted eyes. “How am I supposed to accomplish anything if I can’t function? Did we at least eliminate Kim?”
“Firm.”
“Now we just need to get out. I don’t suppose there is any legal chance we walk?”
Kozue let out an actual laugh, which caused Atom to crack one of his eyes open in surprise. “Atom, you know you’re on a military extradition charge filed by Toks. She’s trying to bury you, even if you do have information. So, the probability of a legitimate, court-ordered release borders along the same lines as throwing an object out an airlock and having it hit something on the other side of the galaxy.”
“Thanks for the encouragement,” Atom groaned as he sat up. “We’re on our own.”
“Firm.”
“How to get out of this one?” Atom mused.
&nb
sp; “Well, as of right now, you still have the freedom of movement Lilly bought you. For some reason they haven’t pegged Kim’s death on you. It’s possible that in accord with his record, his manner of death pointed to self-immolation of the accidental persuasion.”
“Firebug got burned,” Atom laughed, then crawled to the metal toilet and vomited.
“Well, there’s a strange sight,” Daisy said from the doorway to their cell. “Atom Ulvan, hungover. I’ve never actually seen you drink.”
“There’s a reason I don’t drink. And this isn’t a hangover.” Atom hugged the bowl.
“I guess so.” Daisy wandered over and settled down on Atom’s bed.
“I don’t like losing control,” Atom croaked as he flopped back against the wall, shaking as cold sweat poured over him. “Bad things happen when I lose control. I have too many things to juggle to risk dropping something. People die when that happens.”
Atom closed his eyes and pressed back against the cold plasteel wall, allowing the cool to soak into his cheek.
“That’s why I’m just a pilot.” Daisy grinned. “How much did you drink, anyway?”
Atom held his thumb and pointer four inches apart.
“Weak,” said Daisy with a shake of his head.
“So, boys,” Kozue sidled into the conversation. “What’s the next step?”
“I think Atom’s working on that right now,” Daisy chirped.
Atom waved a weak hand in Daisy’s direction.
“I’m doubting we can expect much help from the Ticket, but that would be nice.” Daisy leaned back and thrummed a steady tattoo on his thigh. “Even if they could help, there’s no real way to coordinate.”
“The key is to stay alive between Charnal and Gravix long enough to find a way out,” Kozue said.
“And don’t forget about James,” Atom groaned from the corner.
“I hope we sent enough of a message,” said Daisy.
“You two sent the perfect amount of disruption,” Roop said from the doorway. “Charnal is most appreciative.”
Daisy scowled. “You have a habit of dropping eaves on folks?” he growled.
Roop spread his hands in innocence. “I was on my way up to congratulate you on a job well done.” He stepped into the cell, making sure to linger in the door long enough for Daisy to catch sight of the two uniformed guards behind. “No lasting damage was done. That means no reason for punishment.