Earth Retrograde by R.W.W. Greene

Author:R.W.W. Greene [Greene, R.W.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781915202475
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2023-07-14T23:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SIX

“You sure you can handle that thing?” Tommy said.

Brooklyn scowled. Ruth or someone had built the one-man pods out of scrap metal, constructing what was essentially an egg-shaped Faraday Cage with a bench seat and hand controls. Each of the things ran off a First Tech lifter the size of a pack of cigarettes and moved at little more than the speed of a Central Park ice-cream truck. “Reckon I can handle it, pard.”

“Riding the fences” was usually a semi-weekly chore, but the attack moved it up the to-do list. Bullets and pressurization were not on good terms. “Alright then.” Tommy’s pod rose a couple of feet above the surface, dimly glowing First Tech blue. Brooklyn followed in his own pod, beginning a slow clockwise trip around the crater’s edge with an eye out for leaks. Tommy had a sound system in his vehicle, and a George Jones album started playing on the radio channel they were using.

“Really?” Brooklyn said. “Get my ass out of bed early – with a fucking hangover no less – to help you out and this is how you pay me back.”

“Got some Dolly and Loretta in here. Johnny Cash, Waylon. You’ll be hearin’ from them soon enough.”

The crater roof was a materials sandwich two-feet thick. Aluminum, carbon fiber, obsidian polymers, and regolith all played a part. Low gravity allowed for a structure that would have pancaked on Earth.

They piloted a grid pattern over the surface of the roof, keeping an eye out for damage or escaping vapor. Tommy and Brooklyn made small talk while they flew, but mostly they just listened to the music.

“See why you like this,” Brooklyn said. “Quiet. Kind of reminds me of the Moon.”

Tommy laughed. “Your Moon tour was all fucking around and computer work. I did combat drills and PT all day.”

“Look how that turned out. I ended up MIA and a POW, and you didn’t get to shoot no one ’til you moved to Mars and turned farmer.”

“Really wasn’t much of a war, was it?”

“Lost a lotta people.”

Dolly was singing about being two doors down from a party.

“I’m betting there’s a counter-attack plan or two running somewhere. Shop full of analysts still looking for weaknesses.” Tommy sucked his teeth. “First can’t lock everything down.”

Brooklyn snorted. “Looks like there’s plenty of chest thumping on Mars ta keep the war machine happy a while. Between the Soviets and your Wild Bunch, not seeing a lot of peace, love, and understanding up here.”

“Let’s just get this done.”

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