The Atomic Sea: Part Five: Flaming Skies by Conner Jack

Author:Conner, Jack [Conner, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Epic Fantasy, Space Opera and Science Fiction Series Books
Published: 2015-04-22T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Avery tried to keep from shaking as he made his way down through the bowels of the citadel, side by side with Sheridan. This is it. This is really it. He tried to tell himself to relax, but there was nothing for it. He would do anything for a drink. He’d forced himself to remain sober for what he had to do, but he realized now that that was a mistake. Better to be a bit dulled than to shake so badly he couldn’t walk. He was only vaguely aware of the Over-City groaning around him, pipes hissing and metal squealing, the rasping noise of zeppelins’ envelopes rubbing up against each other, the stink of smoke and extradimensional fumes. The whole massive thing was in even more motion than usual, descending from the skies toward the waiting sea. Through gaps, Avery could see it, vast and foaming, boiling and dark and unknowable. Lightning leapt up from the frothing surface like flashes of death.

He was almost relieved when Sheridan said, “So. You and the Bitch, you’re back together, I take it.”

The question only caught him off-guard for a moment. He knew Sheridan was both trying to ground him and that she was honestly interested. Invested, even.

“Yes,” he said. His voice sounded raspy.

“And it doesn’t bother you that she’s a monster.”

“She’s not the monster.”

Sheridan frowned at that, and he thought he saw hurt there, but he didn’t care. She’s poisoning my daughter. She might be a heroine to Octung, but she was no hero to him. If he hadn’t needed her so badly, he would be tempted to pitch her over the side of the nearest bottomless chasm.

“You know,” she said quietly, “I’m sorry things ... turned out the way they did. Between us, I mean.”

“I’m not.”

She looked sidelong at him, her face a mask as usual. They lapsed into silence as they reached an elevator, pressing in side-by-side with several infected officers. Some of the others murmured excitedly as the elevator coasted down. The Over-City was descending, they whispered. The time of Octung’s victory was at hand. Avery wanted to gut them.

The elevator let off, and Sheridan led him down another series of halls and finally to another elevator. This led all the way to the lowest level, and the officers they were pressed up against here were of the highest level—invitees to the activation ceremony, Avery realized. He looked around him surreptitiously, trying to memorize the faces of the men and women he would be trying to kill over the course of the next hour. Feeling something gnaw at his stomach, he glanced away. Some things were better not thought of.

The elevator disgorged itself and Sheridan led onward, through narrow halls with high ceilings and across rickety walkways spanning the void. Wind hissed and blew all around them. Suddenly they rounded a bend and a building loomed ahead.

“That’s it,” Sheridan said.

Avery could have figured that out by the line of distinguished Octunggen trickling into it. The laboratory was large, with rounded sides and a flat roof, nondescript and somehow all the grimmer for that.

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