Titan's Fall by Zachary Brown

Author:Zachary Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saga Press

14

Bravo squad had shucked down and were taking turns behind a cheap plastic booth to scrub down with wet wipes. The corridors had gotten thick with people being shifted around, temporarily sleeping in rows near the food halls while they waited for their next orders. The air had gone from smelling like saltpeter and rock to human sweat as unwashed bodies crammed up against each other in the asteroid.

Every level was packed. And when the platoon dallied, they swapped rumors. There was going to be a push to take Titan back. They were being gathered for a retreat back to Earth, skipping right past Jupiter, the belt, and Mars.

Whatever the plans were, they were keeping us in the dark, keeping leaks down.

Ken wanted to go back, I could tell. Wanted another chance at Titan.

But maybe, I thought, beefing up Earth to protect what was most important made sense. Maybe we’d be back within a glance of the blue marble again.

I missed it.

“Hey, Lieutenant.” Min Zhao had been up near the rock tunnel for a few seconds.

“What’s up, Max?”

She threw something in an easy curve through the air at me. I caught it and looked down. A small drive. “What is this?”

Zhao shrugged. “Smuggle mail. Been handed person to person all the way here. Came in with the new batch shipped up from home.”

“Anyone have a screen?”

Vorhis lifted his mattress up. “I’m not supposed to have this,” he muttered.

“I know,” I said, and plugged the drive in.

I’d asked what this was. But I already had a good idea. My mother’s face appeared on the screen. “Hey, son,” she said. “Hopefully, this gets to you safely.”

I sat down on the ground and put a finger up to the screen.

“By now, you might know we took a chance during the Rochester camp riots to get away from our minders. We don’t blame you for what you did. What any son would have done.”

But my father was not in the video.

“The Accordance is saying they need fighters. They need our help. So, we’re demanding independence. Earth for humans. If they really need our help, now is the time for them to give us our freedom back. I know some might disagree, they might say they’re the lesser evil. But can we really lay down our lives just to end up back under the Accordance if we help them win their war?”

Even though it had just been months since we’d been split apart, she looked older. There was a scar on her chin, and she’d cut her hair short. Almost military short. She wore a simple vest with extra pockets.

Were they still protesting? Or had they gone deeper underground? She was filming her message in a tent, I could see.

She looked thinner.

“Just remember this, Devlin. You’ve made a name for yourself. You did something amazing out there, on the other side of the moon. People listen to your words. They look up to you. Keep that in mind as you make your decisions. Because we’re all going to be making some tough choices soon.

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