Dreams in the Tower Part 2 by Vrana Andrew

Author:Vrana, Andrew [Vrana, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Distant Star Press
Published: 2014-08-27T07:00:00+00:00

14

They didn’t see any signs of the violence from the road, but they saw the news reports. Shots had been exchanged with private police in Dallas and Brooklyn. L.A. and San Diego were warzones—or so they surmised based on a few quick aerial shots, and the fact that the reporters were trying hard to ignore that part of California. They only showed Houston once and it had been strangely quiet. The protesters had shown up beneath the skyscrapers by the thousands, but they weren’t creating chaos just yet. It was as if they were waiting for something, more like a siege than an assault. Will it hold off through the night? Jason wondered. It would make their job much easier.

Sabrina returned from the travel stop bathroom and leaned on the car beside him; she stretched her arms until both her shoulders popped audibly. “Corsicana went by fast.”

“It did,” Jason agreed. The car was charged and ready to go, but Jason didn’t feel like moving just yet. Apparently Sabrina didn’t either. They went on leaning against the car, watching the people going in and out of the store. They had chosen a relatively small town to stop in to avoid any possible confrontation, but it seemed like this travel stop was the one place everyone in the area went to. Watching them go on about their lives was strange and somehow soothing, like being reminded that everything hadn’t gone to shit just yet.

After a few minutes of their ongoing reluctance to acknowledge the flow of time, Sabrina said, “We should probably get back on the road.”

“Yeah, I know. But…” He trailed off when he noticed a faint mumbling sound coming from the car. “You hear that?” Sabrina stepped away from the passenger door, and he opened it and grabbed his tablet from the floor, where it had fallen at some point.

“Finally,” said a voice that sounded like a duck speaking through a web of static and feedback. Jason lifted the tablet facedown from the car and flipped it over to see a smooth, silver-skinned ellipsoid face with tiny black eyes and a misshapen mouth. The vid-call was showing up through a communication app that Jason had never had on his tablet, one that he sometimes saw Seito using when he talked to AC people.

“Joans,” the alien-thing buzzed. “It’s just you and cop, right?” It spoke with a strange accent that didn’t quite seem foreign.

“Yeah.”

“This’ll be quick,” it said. “I’m Skexka, with Anti-Corp. I’m giving you orders from now on. I put our com app on your tab. Use when you need me. I think you designed original.”

“I guess I did.” He looked at the window around the video; it did seem to faintly remind him of his original creation from years ago he’d been using to talk to Seito. This confirmed his suspicion that Steph had brought the non-E stuff over when she joined the movement. It made him feel a weird sense of pride.

“Great to have you in the ranks,” Skexka said.

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