The Burn Zone (4 page)

“
Hey, Sam,
”
he said.
“
You get my post?
”

“
Yeah, thanks. Nice backdrop.
”

“
I thought you
’
d like it.
”

“
That your new girlfriend?
”

“
She wishes. She
’
s the lucky winner.
”

I rolled my eyes.
“
Tell me you
’
re not still doing that.
”

“
Jealous?
”

“
Hey, I just feel bad for her,
”
I said.

“
It
’
s for a good cause.
”

“
What, the
‘
you getting laid foundation
’
?
”

“
In my heart, Sam.
That
’
s where that hurts.
”

“
Upkeep for your pirate site and spying on security doesn
’
t count as a good cause,
”
I said, a smile creeping over my face.
“
You just like to date your fan mail.
”

“
Fame is a blessing, but also a curse, I
’
m sorry to say. Besides, how else would you have met me and then subsequently gotten both of us banned from the Joy Coffee Bar for life?
”

“
That was your fault.
”

Normally he would have kept ribbing me. Our infamous contest date, which also got us kicked out of the skate park, was usually ripe territory, so when he didn
’
t respond my smile began to fade. I knew what he was going to ask next.

“
You see the bombing from where you were?
”

“
No,
”
I said,
“
but I heard it.
”

“
Did you see the blast site on the—
”

“
I don
’
t want to talk about it right now, okay?
”

“
Sure. Okay.
”
He got quiet for a minute.
“
You getting
psyched for the festival?
”

“
Totally.
I need it this year.
”
I paused.
“
Can we do something fun tomorrow?
”

“
Like what?
”

“
I don
’
t know.
Something fun.
Here, though. I
’
ve got the kid. Is that okay?
”

He didn
’
t let on, but I knew haan babies creeped Vamp out a little. He hesitated a little, so I pushed.

“
I just want to forget all this, you know?
Just for a while.
”

“
No, I know,
”
he said.
“
You got it.
”

“
You don
’
t have plans?
”

“
Nope, I
’
m all yours.
”

My smile came back.

“
Dragan
’
s back tomorrow, right?
”

“
Yeah, but not until late.
”

“
You must be relieved.
”

“
Yeah.
”

“
How
’
s he holding up over there?
”

“
I don
’
t know ... he
’
s been kind of blowing me off.
”

“
He probably scored some primo Pan-Slav tail.
”

“
He did not,
”
I said. My hackles went up, but just then the floor vibrated, and outside a soft rumble began to swell. Through the plate-glass window, I saw a distant light flash above the clouds and I looked off toward the skyline for the source. At first I thought it was another bomb, but it wasn
’
t. Past the colorful sprawl of neon lights, flashing ads, and coursing air and street traffic, off where the electric pulse trickled and faded to black at the rim, one of the dark towers there had begun a slow-motion fall. I could see it silhouetted
against the faint blue light of the dome behind it as crews chipped away at the urban ruins that still surrounded the Impact site.

Right, the demolition.
The ad box had tried to remind me. They were doing more
demo
tonight, and right in our backyard this time. Any drug cookers and meat farmers they shook out would come running right into our little warren of T
ù
zi-w
ō
, with security right behind them.

“
Perfect,
”
I muttered, hoisting myself off the couch and carrying
Tānchi
over to the window.

The rumble swelled above the shaking of the air conditioner as hundreds of stories
’
worth of concrete and glass collapsed into a growing black cloud that billowed out in front of the blue force field and the towering hulk of the haan ship behind it.

Over thirty years they
’
d been here now. A stray graviton eddy on the platform of what used to be
Shiliuyuán
Station was about all the warning anyone got that they were coming, or so the story went. Then a quarter million people were gone in the blink of an eye, the haan
’
s force field dome growing around their ship while the rubble still smoldered. They hid then, safe behind that field, until they could convince us that what happened was an accident and not an attack. I understood the haan better than most, I thought, but even so I had to wonder when I looked at that field what promise they could possibly have made that kept us from retaliating when people still screamed for it even now.

I
’
d never know. It was all classified, and it all happened before my time. Even Dragan was just a kid, drinking vodka or whatever eleven-year-olds did over in the Pan-Slav Emirates. Whatever they
’
d promised, it wasn
’
t anything they
’
d given us so far—the food was payment for that. Not the defense shield.
Something else.
Something better.

We will save you.
It
’
s all they would say.

“
You
’
re inside, right?
”
Vamp asked.

“
Yeah, but I have to go back out.
”

“
You
’
re nuts. The sweep
’
s going to be up your ass in like an hour.
”

“
I know, but I
’
m out of meds.
”

“
Are you kidding me?
”

“
Don
’
t start.
”

“
I
’
m not starting, I
’
m just saying a little Zen oil here and there is one thing, but—
”

“
That
’
s starting.
”

“
I
’
m just saying there
’
s a reason all that shit got legalized. They want to keep everyone fuzzy. Don
’
t play into it.
”

“
I want to be fuzzy,
”
I said.
“
I need to be fuzzy. When I
’
m not fuzzy I...
”

I didn
’
t know how to put it. When Vamp and I met, I
’
d already been living with Dragan for a couple of years. He didn
’
t know what things were like before that, the things that happened to me and the things I
’
d done.

“
What do you want me to say?
”
I said instead.
“
I
’
m a mess.
”

“
It
’
s okay,
”
he said.
“
I get it.
”

He didn
’
t, though. He thought he did, but he didn
’
t, and I didn
’
t want him to.

“
It
’
s not narcs anyway,
”
I said as a warble snuck into my voice.
“
These are legit meds. I don
’
t sleep without them, Vamp. I—
”

“
It
’
s okay. Sam, I know.
”

The bundle of blankets had begun to get really warm as
Tānchi
slipped deeper into his food coma. I could feel his rising body heat against my chest and neck as I looked out the window to where the distant dust cloud formed a column, rising high into the night sky. If I was going to go, I had to get out there and back before the sweep, and before
Tānchi
’
s last feeding.

I realized then that I really didn
’
t have very much time at all, and if I didn
’
t make it I was going to be in for a long night.

“
I have to go,
”
I said.

“
What about the kid?
”

“
I
’
ll bring him with me. It
’
s just down the block. I
’
ll be careful.
”

“
Okay, get going. Run the new eyebot build, though. We
’
re tracking the sweep
live,
and the more nodes the better.
”

“
I
’
ll be back in before they get this far.
”

“
Just run it. You never know.
”

I lowered
Tānchi
back into his crib and tucked the blankets around him, then crossed to the balcony door and slid it open. The concrete floor outside vibrated under my feet as the racket rolled across the city like thunder. A blue arc of electricity snapped up from the expanding cloud and flashed over the rim, a huge, electric tentacle that touched the bubble of light in the distance. A bright, hexagonal mesh pulsed around the strike point, lighting up the northern face of the looming ship. White-hot flakes tumbled down the side of the force field as the glow faded, and the blanket of clouds
above formed a huge, lazy whirlpool over the dome
’
s peak.

“
Damn it,
”
I whispered. The streets were buzzing—I could hear it from fifty stories up. A lockdown would shut the markets down early. They
’
d be a madhouse right up until the point they had to scatter.