“I would give a lot to get behind the controls of such a powerful craft again.” Li Sung let out what seemed like a sigh of regret. “Those days are long behind me.”
“See any action?” Chris asked.
“No, not really,” Li Sung said. “Can’t say I’m too sad about that either. Never much enjoyed the thought of being shot at. Back then, there were no planetary assaults to be made, hot drops on rebel positions. Things were quiet and mostly peaceful.”
Chris’s attention was fixed upon Li Sung.
“We were sent on relief missions,” Li Sung continued, “helping when it came to natural disasters and such. There was the occasional peacekeeping job, but not much more than that. And I wasn’t the one doing the peacekeeping or slogging it out on the ground either.” He shifted slightly, eyeing Chris. “Ever notice there’s always mud where the infantry is deployed?”
“Surviving the mud is a rite of passage for soldiers,” Chris said.
“How my crew chief used to hate it. Always got tracked into the cargo bay.” Li Sung paused again as if coming back to the present. “Well, there’s no mud on Asherho, at least not anymore. Anyway, I just mainly shuttled people and supplies around. All I did was piloting, but it still felt good to help, like we were making a difference …”
“Helping others who are in need is good work,” Chris said.
“Who’s to help us now?” Li Sung replied, his tone turning bitter. “We should be helping each other to survive, working together to make things better. But it’s not that way. The UPG seeks to control us instead or lock us up in the housing blocks like prisoners. They want us to live on their scraps, while they live like kings up in the heavens. Life in the blocks, that’s no life”—he glanced toward the curtain—“not the one I’d wish for my grandchildren at any rate. Though we don’t have much, at least they know freedom.”
Keira had heard such talk before. It did not surprise her. There was a lot of discontent born of suffering on Asherho. But that could not be helped, at least not by her, beyond what she was already doing.
“The militia said you were squatters,” Chris said, “no better than bandits.”
“And what would they know?” Li Sung said. “We rarely if ever see them attempting to enforce the law in these parts or even poking about. If the storm had not rolled in, the bastards would not have troubled us.” He blew out a heavy breath laced with frustration. “They act more like entitled prison guards than anything else, helping the police keep the masses locked up and in order.”
Keira thought on her own life at the FOB and suddenly felt uncomfortable. The base was guarded by militia and she could not leave the hab without permission from Command. There were days she certainly felt like a prisoner.
“Scavengers and pickers is more like it,” Li Sung said. “Being a bandit sounds much more exciting, don’t you think? If I was twenty years younger, I might have tried my hand at it and given the big middle finger to the UPG. Now, I can’t do much other than share the wisdom of an old fool and try to stay out of the way. Growing old can make one useless.”
Chris took a step forward. “You dig in the sand, searching for parts, equipment, that sort of thing? Then you sell it. Do I have that right?”
Li Sung gave a wary nod. “We usually barter for what we need. My son is out there right now, on a dig. It’s what all of the people in this neighborhood do. We work together, pool our resources, protect each other. Though it’s hard to do that against an entire company of militia. They have too much firepower for us. If we had resisted, they’d have just mowed us down and not had any regrets. The gangs, on the other hand, know to stay away. They come out this way, we bury their bodies in the sand where no one will ever find them.”
“That would explain the extra pallet,” Keira said, “your son being out on a dig.”
“That’s right. He’s the man of the house, and me … I’m just some old fool. I am glad he wasn’t here. He might have done something rash and made my daughter-in-law a widow.”
“Perhaps we might work something out,” Chris said.
“An arrangement?” Li Sung asked, turning his attention back to the marine. “What do you have in mind?”
“I have a list of items I am interested in acquiring,” Chris said. “I don’t really care where you find them, or how you get them. My partners and I will pay top credits for anything you find on the list.”
“Food would be better,” Li Sung said. “Credits have no real use to us, as they only buy things for the people in the blocks. And they’re locked down so tight, we can’t even smuggle out ration bars, let alone larger items. If the UPG doesn’t confiscate it, the gangs that run those places will. If you can deliver, we will take payment in ration bars, battery packs, and water purifiers. They’re more valuable to us than credits.”
“That can be arranged,” Chris said.
“Then I have no doubt that we’d be interested,” Li Sung said. “You’d be surprised about the sorts of things we can find. The UPG even buys from us.”
“I figured,” Chris said.
“I didn’t make the system we all live under,” Li Sung said.
“Neither did we,” Keira said.
“You are a smart one,” Li Sung said as the wind reached new levels, howling outside the building. A mist of sand and ash, illuminated by the lantern, hung on the air inside the room. The draft tugged at the sheet leading off from the living area.
“Before we go”—Chris returned to his original position by the door—“I will give you a short list and a way to contact me.”
Li Sung gave a nod and then lowered himself back onto the pillow. Another silence, if it could be called that with the howling wind, fell upon the room as he closed his eyes.
“I returned home to Asherho,” Li Sung continued after a moment, without opening his eyes, “to start a new life, a family. I gave more than ten years to serving the empire.” Li Sung’s tone turned sour once again. “I came home just to watch it all slowly fall apart—society begin to collapse and break down. When the time came to take a stand, I was too old to serve, to make a difference. I was just one more useless civilian, one more mouth to feed.” He turned his head on the pillow and his old eyes became piercing. “There’s nothing left but the ash of a dead empire. Hang up that armor and move on. Make a life of your own, whatever you can manage in this hellhole—before it’s too late. What your armor stood for doesn’t exist anymore. It’s time to accept that and move on, like I have.”
“Can’t do that,” Chris said plainly.
“Can’t or won’t?” Li Sung asked.
“Both.” Chris’s expression became somewhat pained. His eyes flicked to Keira before returning to the old man. “I still have a job to do and I aim to see it through to the end.”
Li Sung closed his eyes again. He blew out a long breath that seemed filled with regret. “I understand. It is hard to give up on the things you love.”
“Yes, it is,” Chris agreed in a near whisper. “That’s always the most difficult part.”
Li Sung turned his head to Keira a moment later. “I thank you for helping an old man and showing some kindness.”
She patted him on the shoulder. “I wish I could do more.”
“You’ve done more than enough,” Li Sung said, “more than most would these days.”
A scuff of a step drew Keira’s attention. The woman had returned. She was standing before the tattered sheet that hung in the doorway. Keira suspected they both were of similar years, only this woman had prematurely aged. She also had an angry rash on her forearm and a cold sore on the right side of her mouth. There was a worn and tired look about her, a bone-numbing weariness that Keira understood only too well. The real difference between them was that Keira had sufficient food, medicine, and clean air.
Keira saw that she was armed with a pistol. The butt of the weapon poked out of a pocket. She stood before the sheet, like a guard. One of the children, a girl, peered silently from around the edge of the
sheet and into the room at the strangers in fascination.
The woman’s gaze was cold. Like the old man, she was dirty and ragged-looking, half starved. The room likely smelled terrible too, but in her climate-controlled suit, Keira could smell nothing. She could only imagine how hard the woman’s life had been, how tough it had been for all of them, even the children. It almost broke her heart.
“My daughter-in-law, Fan Jie,” Li Sung said, “and that little creature behind her is my little flower, Chunhua.”
Fan Jie turned and glared at the little girl. A moment later, Chunhua fled. Keira could hear her steps as she ran off.
“I’m Keira”—she placed a hand to her chest—“and this is Chris.”
“It’s good to have a name,” Li Sung said. “You are not of this world.”
“No,” Keira said. She knew what the old man was asking. Heritage was still important on Asherho. “I was born off-world. My father’s heritage is from North America. Asherho is my mother’s home. She traces her roots back to China.”
“We trace our ancestry back to China as well,” Li Sung said. “I welcome you both to our home. It is my shame that I am unable to greet you properly with food and tea, as is our custom. I would share it willingly, but I think you understand our circumstances.”
“We do,” Chris said, “and we apologize for imposing upon you and your family. As soon as the storm passes, we will leave you in peace.”
“We appreciate that,” Li Sung said.
The woman had said nothing. She just stared at them with cold eyes, deadened from a life of suffering.
Running her gaze around the small room, Keira took it all in again, more to avoid Fan Jie’s gaze than anything else. The room wasn’t much, but this was their home. And despite Li Sung’s formal words of welcome, they were intruding, even if she’d helped Li Sung with his injury. They had not been invited.
Keira had no idea what the rest of the building was like and really had no desire to find out. She wanted to leave and be on their way, put this all behind them, but she could not. She felt uncomfortable. They were stuck here, and even with her hazard suit, there was no going back out into the storm until it was over. It was just too dangerous.
She knew that the family likely had hidden food and water stores somewhere. There were too many people willing to take from others on Asherho. From the looks of things, she doubted those food stores were much.
“Chris.” Keira stood and turned to face him. She switched to a comm channel so the two of them could speak in private. “With the storm, do you think you can get back to the APC? Safely?”
“With ease,” Chris said, tapping the chest armor with a hand. It made a thunking noise. “A little wind won’t stop this armor. What do you need?”
“Grab the field pot Syles gave me from the APC and one of our spare lanterns. We have six.”
“The spaghetti and meatballs?” Chris asked, glancing to the old man and then the woman. “You know it’s not wise to get between a marine and his food.”
“You’ve seen them,” Keira said, “they’re no more than skin and bones, especially the children. They need it more than we do. Bring some of our ration bars too. Lee always takes extra, a few dozen if you would.”
“All right,” Chris said. “And you are right. They do need it. Want anything else?”
Keira thought for a moment and glanced around the room again. Her eyes stopped on the overhead lighting, which was out. “My tool kit. I might be able to repair a few things for them or at least connect the lantern’s power supply or a battery pack, if they have one, to the overhead lighting and brighten things a bit. The element looks intact.”
Chris eyed the woman and then the old man for a long moment, as if reconsidering leaving. His eyes went to the weapon Fan Jie had in her pocket. He seemed to reach a decision and turned back to Keira. “You’ll have to close and latch the door after me. Think you can manage that?”
Keira moved up to him and the door. “I’ve got it.”
“This is something your father would have done,” Chris said. “You know that, right?”
Keira gave a nod.
“Okay. I will be back shortly.” He turned, unlatched the door, and opened it. A seething maelstrom of darkness, wind, and blowing sand greeted them. The sand showered against her suit. Without hesitation, he stepped out into black, plunging into the tempest, and almost immediately disappeared from sight.
As sand and wind blasted at her and into the room, Keira put her shoulder into it and, using all her effort, forced the door closed, then threw the heavy latch, locking it in place.
She let out a sigh of relief and found herself out of breath from the effort. Keira turned to Li Sung and Fan Jie and switched back to her external speakers. A layer of sand covered seemingly everything. “Sorry about the mess. When he returns, I will help you clean up.”
“Where’s he going?” Li Sung asked.
“To bring food,” Keira said, “and a spare lantern for you. I think you could use some more light. I wish we had a spare heater, but we don’t.”
“Really?” the woman asked, sounding incredibly surprised, even skeptical and highly suspicious. Despite that, her hardened expression cracked a little. “You’d do that for us? Why?”
Keira glanced over at the old man. She thought about her father and how he used to go out of his way to help others.
“But we have nothing to give in return,” Li Sung said, concern written plainly on his face.
Keira understood hospitality and face were at issue.
“Your company and shelter from the storm will be enough. Besides, it’s what I do.” Keira kept her eyes on Li Sung. “I help others. I am a tech. Chris is also bringing my tool kit. Do you need anything fixed? With the storm out there, it seems I have some time on my hands.”
Chapter Nine
The Beast rocked violently as it traversed over something hard. The tracks made a clunking sound for several moments, a clear indicator they were no longer moving over ash and the ever-present sand that covered the roads into the city.
Sitting across from Chris in the crew compartment, Keira hung onto a handhold that had been bonded to the wall. Lee was in the cockpit whistling some nameless tune as he drove. Keira had long since learned to ignore his terrible whistling.
After several moments, the rocking subsided and the ride became smoother. Chris had been silently studying his tablet for the last twenty minutes. He looked up at her, his expression deeply unhappy, troubled even. He appeared as if on the verge of saying something, then hesitated.
“What?” Keira asked, for he had been uncharacteristically quiet since leaving Li Sung’s home. Hopefully, he wasn’t still angry at her. She did not need another lecture. In truth, Keira was unhappy with herself. She had done a foolish thing in confronting the militia the day before, and the price had almost been her life. That she had screwed up bothered her immensely. She should have known better, for she had put not only herself at risk, but those she cared about as well, Chris and Lee.
Keira heard a double ping in her helmet. He had switched to a private channel with her, which meant he did not want Lee to overhear their conversation. That was a rare thing for him to do and put her immediately on guard.
“Security-wise, things are getting worse,” Chris said, “much worse.”
“Are you referring to the Yanoyang Park attack?” Keira asked. The UPG had sent out a planetary-wide bulletin on the terrorist incident that had happened there overnight. Yanoyang Park was an old arcology on the other side of the planet. Keira was familiar with the place and had spent two years working in the region with Lee. “It’s tragic to be sure. The Zen Front are animals. They have no respect for life.”
“They are just a symptom of a bigger problem,” Chris said. “The Zen Front is a destabilizing influence, one amongst many that plague the UPG.”
“A symptom? A destabilizing influence?” Keira asked, wondering how he could be so callous. It made her angry. “Is that wh
at you are calling it? More than four thousand people died and there’s a good chance some that did are people we know. They are still counting the bodies.”
“It wasn’t terrorism.”
“What?” Keira asked, not quite sure she had heard correctly.
“It wasn’t terrorism. It was the UPG.”
She blinked, surprised, stunned even. The anger she’d felt a heartbeat before vanished. “The government? You’ve got to be joking.”
“I wish I was.”
“Why? Why would the government do something like that and then blame it on terrorists? Chris, that makes no sense. You must have it wrong.”
“I don’t have it wrong,” Chris said. “The locals seized several ag-farms in protest, and they came armed. They were looking for a fight. I understand several managers and a foreman were killed. A platoon of militia sent to restore order was ambushed and cut to pieces as well. After that, the UPG did not feel like negotiating. Overnight, Command sent in a full company of regulators backed up with a battalion of militia, who brought artillery to the party. I’m told the fighting was savage, with heavy casualties on both sides.”
Keira went cold as her horror grew in the telling.
“The ag-farms were wrecked. That kind of thing happens when you deploy heavy weapons. After the shooting stopped, the militia and regulators made an example of the locals by rampaging through Yanoyang. Anyone they came across, they killed, and that included innocents and children. It was ugly as shit, all around.”
Keira had difficulty believing what he was telling her.
“How can you be certain it was the UPG?” Keira asked.
“Trust that it’s reliable information.”
Keira’s gaze tracked to the floor. Yanoyang Park had been nothing like Hakagi. She had fond memories of the place. Unlike Hakagi, many of the people living there had been fully employed, either working the farms or the nearby industry. They had had it better than most. There had also been a civilian construction battalion living in the arcology. They had been actively engaged in building new shelters and farms. How bad had things gotten since they had worked out that way? Had the food supply been cut that drastically? She suspected it had.
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