The Atomic Sea

by Jack Conner

  The Temple would not erupt again, thank the gods, but suddenly Avery realized who Sheridan had been calling on the radio, and the news was not good. Nine of the dirigibles that had accompanied this one to the Arena had cast off and were in pursuit.

  * * *

  Avery spun the wheel. A hulking junkheap tower just barely scraped by, missing the dirigible’s envelope with inches to spare. Behind and around him the fight continued. Figures thrashed and rolled about on the floor and slammed up against the walls.

  The nine dirigibles shot closer, narrowing the gap. Soon they would be within range. Avery aimed the ship around rearing towers and dripping stalactites, and soon he saw the lights of the city glinting on water ahead. The city must occupy an island or peninsula. Cuithril stretched on, tower after tower, and Avery wove his way through it, mindful of the need for urgency but also caution.

  The nine dirigibles threaded their way through the spires and dripping palaces with greater skill—and speed. They closed the gap all too quickly.

  Suddenly something slammed up against him and knocked him away from the wheel. It was a writhing Sheridan, locked in combat with Layanna, who was now too weak to bring her amoeba-self over. Sheridan punched and jabbed at her, and Layanna just barely fended off the attacks. The two women knocked Avery to the deck and rolled into the gunwale. He slammed into them, driving the breath from his lungs.

  Sheridan elbowed him in the ribs. Gasping, he punched her in the lower back, aiming for a kidney. She moved. He missed. Her next elbow strike nearly broke his sternum. Below her Layanna sagged. Sheridan had both hands around her throat and was squeezing mercilessly. Perhaps she still had some hope of fulfilling her mission, of killing or capturing Layanna.

  Avery locked an arm around Sheridan’s neck and gripped her in a headlock. She thrashed and kicked under him. Enraged, she let go of Layanna and grabbed his arm in both of her hands. With all her strength, she pulled it away from her neck, then ducked under it and spun around. Her hand chopped down, hit the side of Avery’s neck. Gagging, he collapsed backward.

  She leaned to the side, searched the corpse of one of her Octunggen brethren and snatched up a knife. It glimmered in the light of a passing tower.

  Layanna wrapped her arms about Sheridan from behind. With whatever strength she had left, Layanna hefted the admiral up and hurled her against the gunwale. Sheridan grunted and slashed backward with her knife. Layanna cried out. Avery punched Sheridan in the jaw. Around them the last spires of the city slipped past. Below them stretched water, black and wide.

  Behind the dirigibles advanced, all too swiftly.

  Sheridan sliced Avery across the chest with the knife, then reversed her swing to take out his throat. He grabbed her wrist, forced it away. She kneed him in the groin. He twisted. With both hands on the handle, she drove the knife toward his heart, and he just barely grabbed her forearms in time. They wrestled on the gunwale, grunting and straining against each other. Slowly, the knife inched toward his chest. Closer. Closer ...

  “Leave him alone,” said Layanna.

  Sheridan glanced sideways, just in time to receive the shaft of one of the Octunggen’s stun-clubs in the face. Avery heard the smack of bone, and then the admiral pitched over the side.

  Breathless, he stared over the gunwale, watching as Sheridan plummeted, finally striking the vast darkness of the sea. Then she was gone from sight. He sucked in a deep gulp of air and turned to Layanna. Too weak to thank her, he just nodded. Tiredly, she nodded back.

  Hildra manned the wheel, swinging the dirigible in and out of the stalactites that threatened to smash them to splinters. Janx was stabbing the last Octunggen through the eye. That done, he hurled the corpse overboard.

  Behind, the nine dirigibles closed the distance. Lights flashed on their decks, and Avery knew they were about to bring their otherworldly weapons to bear.

  He noticed a certain smell. The air turned sour and thick, difficult to breathe.

  “Down!” he said. “Take her down!”

  Coughing, Hildra complied, and the dirigible quickly lowered, stalactites receding. So did the stench.

  A familiar green light fell over the craft, and Avery gasped as pain filled him. A blister formed under the skin of his right forearm. He could feel another growing under his neck. He heard himself groan.

  “Shit,” growled Hildra, as a bubble burst on her hand. “Shitfuckshit!”

  This was just the beginning, Avery knew. The Octunggen’s otherworldly weapons would soon be the end of them.

  He glanced up, saw the vague stir of vapor against the cavern ceiling, the vapor he and the others had just left. It was surely the same gas that had bubbled up from the sea on the other side of the city. The pack of dirigibles was just entering it.

  “A gun!” he said. “I need a gun.” If I can make a spark ...

  “What for?” asked Janx.

  “Just find one!” Avery screamed, searching the corpses all around him. All the guns were empty.

  “Will this do?” Janx pressed a flare gun into Avery’s hands.

  Avery stared at it in wonder. “Yes,” he said. “It will do just fine.”

  He raised the gun and pointed it at the cavern ceiling. He fired, and a bright red burst shot high into the darkness. It rose and rose, and the dirigibles plowed on, heedless.

  The green light intensified, and other colors began to join it. Avery felt pain all over, and he sank to his knees in agony. Beside him Janx and Hildra did likewise. Layanna, unaffected, moved toward the wheel.

  The flare hit the pocket of trapped gas.

  The explosion ripped the darkness apart, engulfing the dirigibles.

  Avery hunkered low, and heat washed over him. Debris rained down, peppering the black sea with sparks. He imagined Sheridan dragging herself out of the water on some dark shore and staring up at the fiery destruction, and he felt a wave of satisfaction.

  Janx and Hildra whooped. Avery let out a breath and sagged against the gunwale. Layanna rested beside him.

  The last lights of Cuithril faded behind them. There was no further pursuit.

  * * *

  They had made it. For a moment, Avery felt dizzy with relief. Then he thought of Ani, and something terrible came over him, a sort of gasping claustrophobia. The world contracted and spasmed around him. He had gone against Sheridan. If she still lived, then Avery had damned his own daughter.

  “She’ll be fine,” Layanna said. Gently, she squeezed his shoulder.

  “How did you know?”

  “I heard what Sheridan said. Don’t worry. If it’s possible to help your daughter, we will.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out, and he realized there was nothing to say. The dirigible soared on.

  Janx stared sadly behind them, and Avery could guess what he was thinking.

  Hildra squeezed his arm. “You think Mu made it?”

  Gripping the gunwale, Janx said nothing for a long moment, then: “The awful thing is, Hilly—I don’t even know if I want him to have.”

  “He lives,” Layanna said. “If that is any comfort. Or at least his body does.”

  “You sure?” said Hildra. “That blast—”

  “Uthua wasn’t on the platform when the Temple fell. I can feel him.”

  Janx’s face tightened. “I’d rather him be dead, darlin’, than that bastard wearing him.” His voice almost cracked on the word.

  Trying to cheer him, Hildra said, “Uthua can wait, damn it all. We did it! Can you believe it? We ended the war. We saved the world.”

  “Amazing,” Avery agreed. “It’s still hard to take in.”

  Janx was silent for a moment longer, his eyes distant, but then he visibly shook off his grief. Dully, he said, “I wonder how long it’ll take before the last shot’s fired. A month? Two?”

  “Six weeks,” Avery said. “I give it six weeks.”

  Something glittered in Janx’s eyes. It wasn’t right up at the front, or overly bright, but it wa
s there. “Is that ... a wager?”

  Avery laughed, relieved. “I have just enough money to buy a cup of coffee, Janx.”

  “Wanna double it?”

  Throughout all this Layanna had been strangely silent, so much so that it began to grow conspicuous. Suddenly wary, Avery turned to her, and so did the others. Layanna could not meet their eyes.

  “It’s over,” Janx said. “Right, honey?”

  “It is,” Avery affirmed, then hesitated. “Isn’t it?”

  Layanna sucked in a breath and let it out. Slowly, she said, “No. It’s not.”

  Wind rattled over the gunwale, and Avery shivered.

  Layanna visibly gathered her resolve. “I was able to establish a connection with them, but I was too late to warn them,” she said. “They were already being attacked as I transmitted the plans.” Grief stamped her face, and her voice fluttered. “Several died ...”

  “I’m sorry,” Avery told her.

  “All isn’t lost,” she said. “They believed they would be able to escape. To relocate. They’ve done it many times before, and they’ve been attacked more than once. But in the attack, a sound-bomb ... it poisoned them. All of them.”

  Avery felt a wave of foreboding. He sagged backwards, hoping he was wrong. For some reason, he couldn’t speak.

  Fortunately, Janx could: “And that means, what?”

  A tear spilled down Layanna’s cheek. “Dying—they’re all dying.”

  “Dear gods,” said Hildra. “After all this ...”

  Avery felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. “But the Device ...” he said.

  “Yes,” Layanna said. “I succeeded in passing the plans on to them. They believe they’ll have time to build it. It should be waiting for us. We did that much. We accomplished that much. It was worth it, all of it. Because of what we did today, the key to ending the war will be fashioned.” She watched them steadily. “But, because of Uthua, I’m afraid it may be up to us to do the unlocking.”

  “Waiting for us,” Janx said.

  “Yes,” Layanna nodded. “In Lusterqal. That’s where they are, of course, the Black Sect. The Device will be there if my friends can remain free long enough to build it. But it’s unlikely they’ll have the strength or time to activate it. Only one of my kind can do it. Soon ... soon I’ll be the only one left, at least with the will to see it done. The last of the Sect.”

  “Well, godsdamn,” said Hildra.

  Layanna met their eyes. “I doubt I’ll be able to make the journey alone. You ... you’ve proven your usefulness, time and again.”

  “Hell,” said Hildra. “We can be less useful.”

  There was a long silence. Hildra steered the dirigible around a low-hanging stalactite, then another. Janx frowned, and Avery’s head pounded. He wished he had a drink. Hildra could be heard to mutter, “Lusterqal! She wants us to go to the capital of Octung!”

  Avery searched Layanna’s face, then the others’.

  “We must see this through,” he said.

  “Lusterqal’s deep in Octung, Doc,” Janx said. “Hundreds of miles away. And between here and there’s nothin’ but occupied territory and Octunggen vassal states. How’re we gonna get through?”

  Avery smiled, but he could feel the strain in it. “Remember, these tunnels, they’re said to go beneath several countries, in various directions. Some are said to even go most of the way to Octung ...”

  Janx and Hildra stared at him. Layanna looked relieved.

  “You serious, Doc?” Janx said.

  Avery nodded. “We could fly right under much of the danger.”

  Janx and Hildra exchanged a long, grim look. Somewhere Hildebrand cooed mournfully.

  “This blows,” said Hildra. She kicked the gunwale and said, “Well, shit. We’re still fugitives in Ghenisa, and Ungraessot’s out. Everywhere else is a battlefield. Hell, maybe the safest place to be is Octung.” But Avery could tell she didn’t really believe it. He didn’t.

  “It won’t be easy,” Layanna said. “I won’t lie to you.”

  Hildra grunted. “No. You would never do that.”

  “I can’t speak for Hildra, Doc,” Janx said, “but I’m in. My friends died for this.” He raised his eyebrows. “And you’re still holding us to our oaths, I take it.”

  “I ... I am,” Avery said. It was almost as if Janx had wanted him to say it.

  “Then so be it,” Janx said.

  Hildra rubbed something around her neck. Avery had never noticed it before, but he saw it now, perhaps because of Hildra’s preoccupation. It glimmered faintly of bronze, sharp and wicked and lethal. When Avery saw what it was, he nearly choked. It was Nancy. Hildra wore Janx’s old harpoon-head around her neck. The significance of that could not have been small. And yet they never spoke of it. Avery’s mind reeled.

  “Alright,” Hildra said. “Fuck it. I’m in. To Octung we go. But don’t anybody expect me to like it.”

  Avery swallowed, shaking off his surprise. “Good,” he said. “Then it’s settled.”

  Layanna let out a deep sigh, and the dirigible sailed on into darkness.

  Epilogue

  Three weeks later Avery and the others ascended from the tunnels. They had passed under three countries, only coming up occasionally, and now were at the western edge of Lathralc. They stole up through the caverns, then the sewer, and out into the tangle of streets and alleys. They were in the city of Vunhydt, and the sun shown down on a fierce procession. Guns glittered and silver buttons caught the light as a military caravan trundled down the road, tank tires grinding loudly. Smoke belched up from the machines, and grim-faced Lathralcites watched the caravan pass from terraces over the street. They looked starved, gray and terrified. How many of them had been taken in the night, how many to the reeducation centers designed to perpetuate the faith of the Collossum? How many had simply disappeared?

  Hildra, familiar with the city, as she had once led a thieving life here, so she said, led Avery, Janx and Layanna up to the rooftops, and in silence they passed over the Octunggen-occupied town. In some courtyards Octunggen soldiers dragged prisoners into the open and tied them to posts. Firing squads formed up. The sounds of rifles cracked over the tiled roofs. In other courtyards Octunggen loaded up civilians to be transferred to some undisclosed destination. Some would doubtlessly be brainwashed or tortured for information about dissidents.

  “I don’t understand,” Avery said. “I thought Lathralc was a vassal state to Octung.”

  Layanna nodded. “Originally Octung pledged not to implement their harsher policies among their vassals, if only the countries would aid them in the war. Now, however, the war cannot be stopped, not by them.”

  “So they lied.”

  “They lied.”

  Silent and ashen, the group passed over the city, and then out of it, into the rugged, pine-covered hills beyond. The hills separated Lathralc from Octung along this stretch of the border.

  For hours they labored up the slopes, threading their way through dense pines and once evading an Octunggen patrol, until at last they reached a peak. Sweating and flushed, Avery paused to take in the view. Before him stretched another city, its buildings huge and monolithic. Bombers rumbled overhead, heading in formation outward, toward distant targets. Smoke belched up from factory after factory. Searchlights lanced the sky.

  Layanna swept her arms. “Welcome to Octung.”

  THE END

  OF VOLUME ONE

  OF

  THE ATOMIC SEA

  AUTHOR’S NOTE:

  Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading The Atomic Sea: Volume One as much as I did writing it. Volume Two is now available. You can find it here …

  … in the US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QH49J64

  … in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00QH49J64

  If you enjoyed The Atomic Sea: Volume One, it would be greatly appreciated if you left a review so others can, too. It will not only help new readers discover The Atomic Sea but is in
credibly rewarding to me to see how people liked it, as well as learning any ways I can improve.

  In fact, to encourage you to leave a review, if you liked the novel and review it, just email me at jackconnerbooks@gmail.com and I’ll thank you with a free copy of Part Two.

  You can leave a review here . . .

  . . . in the US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QH3SE0C

  . . . in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00QH3SE0C

  BONUS FREE GIFT:

  To read a free novella set in a world similar to that of The Atomic Sea (and to hear about my next discount, free promotion and news on upcoming releases), sign up for my newsletter here: http://forms.aweber.com/form/42/1144971442.htm

  Thanks, and happy reading,

  Jack