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Authors: Cassandra Gannon
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It’s Vol tyn, for fuck’s sake! Do you not know what a Voltyn even is? How can
you not know?!”
Why
was he yelling at her? She wasn’t the annoying one in this room. “Calm
down, alright? So, I don’t know what a Voltyn is. Big deal! You guys don’t
know what coffee is, so we’re even.” She threw up her hands. “Christ, if it’s
such a crime, tell me why I should care and I’ll…”
He
cut her off, his gaze going hard. “Voltyn are not human. I am not
human.”
And
the sad part? Still, not the weirdest thing she’d heard this week.
“I
know. You’re an alien, right?” Addy had suspected as much. It explained the
supernatural pull she felt towards the guy. He’d probably ray-gunned her. He
was probably wearing a holographic mask of masculine perfection over his octopus
face. Hell, that was probably what happened to Washington’s nose. Some kind
of ID4 super-weapon blasted Rushmore during an interstellar battle.
Cade
closed his eyes, as if he was trying to hold back a stream of extraterrestrial
cursing. “No, I am not an alien.” He ground the words out from between
clenched teeth. “I can’t believe that I have to explain this to you.
Do you understand nothing of the world, lady?”
“Hey,
I know real stuff, okay? Ask me about last season on Scandal, or
the best recipe for peanut butter brownies, or how to choose the perfect logo
for your website. I just don’t know the social history of the year 2525.”
Cade’s
jaw ticked, and he headed closer to her. “Before the flash, there was a long
war. It lasted three hundred years.” He said in a mocking tone. “Does this
sound familiar?”
Nope,
but no sense in telling him that. “Sure. The huge flash thingy that everyone
obviously knows about. Umm… When was that, again?”
He
hesitated. “Ten centuries, give or take. I don’t know exactly.”
So,
a thousand years, plus the three hundred years of war… Addy did some quick
math. She was marooned in at least 3300ish? No. More, because she didn’t know when that three hundred year war actually started. So maybe closer to fifteen or sixteen hundred years in the future. Christ,
this was worse than 2525.
If
she’d been sent --like-- sixteen hundred years into the past , she’d been
dealing with the fall of Roman Empire. This was kind of the equivalent of
being transported backwards to --like-- 400 and something AD. …And just like
after Rome collapsed it seemed like the world had been plunged into a dark age,
with a huge loss of culture and technology. Shit.
“Before
the flash, the war was being lost.” Cade continued, as Addy tried to add up the
mindboggling distances on the timeline. “The ruling gods decided they needed
better soldiers for their battles and they created them.” He looked out the
saloon window, towards Rushmore. “They corralled certain humans --the most
worthy fighters-- and they added things. And took things. Until those
warriors weren’t human anymore.”
Addy
tried to piece that together. “The government genetically engineered
soldiers?” Sadly, the idea wasn’t so farfetched. “That sucks, but --come on--
it doesn’t make them not human. It just makes them victims of the
military-industrial complex. Which I’ve totally picketed against.”
That
was during her “social-activist phase.” She’d quit because she’d missed
shaving her legs, but Addy still held too many “radical” beliefs for her
father’s liking.
Cade
sank down on the barstool next to her, lost in his own head. “At first, the
gods were pleased with the Voltyn. They fought better. They were bigger and
stronger. They were not burdened with human emotions. The gods had made them harder ,
inside and out. Commanding. Cold. But, they also had abilities . The
gods hadn’t expected that. They feared the Voltyn might use their powers to
rise up against
you not know?!”
Why
was he yelling at her? She wasn’t the annoying one in this room. “Calm
down, alright? So, I don’t know what a Voltyn is. Big deal! You guys don’t
know what coffee is, so we’re even.” She threw up her hands. “Christ, if it’s
such a crime, tell me why I should care and I’ll…”
He
cut her off, his gaze going hard. “Voltyn are not human. I am not
human.”
And
the sad part? Still, not the weirdest thing she’d heard this week.
“I
know. You’re an alien, right?” Addy had suspected as much. It explained the
supernatural pull she felt towards the guy. He’d probably ray-gunned her. He
was probably wearing a holographic mask of masculine perfection over his octopus
face. Hell, that was probably what happened to Washington’s nose. Some kind
of ID4 super-weapon blasted Rushmore during an interstellar battle.
Cade
closed his eyes, as if he was trying to hold back a stream of extraterrestrial
cursing. “No, I am not an alien.” He ground the words out from between
clenched teeth. “I can’t believe that I have to explain this to you.
Do you understand nothing of the world, lady?”
“Hey,
I know real stuff, okay? Ask me about last season on Scandal, or
the best recipe for peanut butter brownies, or how to choose the perfect logo
for your website. I just don’t know the social history of the year 2525.”
Cade’s
jaw ticked, and he headed closer to her. “Before the flash, there was a long
war. It lasted three hundred years.” He said in a mocking tone. “Does this
sound familiar?”
Nope,
but no sense in telling him that. “Sure. The huge flash thingy that everyone
obviously knows about. Umm… When was that, again?”
He
hesitated. “Ten centuries, give or take. I don’t know exactly.”
So,
a thousand years, plus the three hundred years of war… Addy did some quick
math. She was marooned in at least 3300ish? No. More, because she didn’t know when that three hundred year war actually started. So maybe closer to fifteen or sixteen hundred years in the future. Christ,
this was worse than 2525.
If
she’d been sent --like-- sixteen hundred years into the past , she’d been
dealing with the fall of Roman Empire. This was kind of the equivalent of
being transported backwards to --like-- 400 and something AD. …And just like
after Rome collapsed it seemed like the world had been plunged into a dark age,
with a huge loss of culture and technology. Shit.
“Before
the flash, the war was being lost.” Cade continued, as Addy tried to add up the
mindboggling distances on the timeline. “The ruling gods decided they needed
better soldiers for their battles and they created them.” He looked out the
saloon window, towards Rushmore. “They corralled certain humans --the most
worthy fighters-- and they added things. And took things. Until those
warriors weren’t human anymore.”
Addy
tried to piece that together. “The government genetically engineered
soldiers?” Sadly, the idea wasn’t so farfetched. “That sucks, but --come on--
it doesn’t make them not human. It just makes them victims of the
military-industrial complex. Which I’ve totally picketed against.”
That
was during her “social-activist phase.” She’d quit because she’d missed
shaving her legs, but Addy still held too many “radical” beliefs for her
father’s liking.
Cade
sank down on the barstool next to her, lost in his own head. “At first, the
gods were pleased with the Voltyn. They fought better. They were bigger and
stronger. They were not burdened with human emotions. The gods had made them harder ,
inside and out. Commanding. Cold. But, they also had abilities . The
gods hadn’t expected that. They feared the Voltyn might use their powers to
rise up against
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