Read Online The Apocalypse Ocean by Tobias S. Buckell, Pablo Defendini - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tobias S. Buckell, Pablo Defendini
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she’d once thought of as her family had been given.
The door to the basement opened, and the Doaq stooped to step through.
Kay watched the eyes deep inside the burnt, frayed cowl. Jerome had fought hard. But in the end, as they’d both known, the Doaq was still standing here.
The Doaq’s jaw did not drop to the ground to reveal that maw to hell. It just … regarded her.
Well, now, this was a game Kay understood.
One hand still in her left pocket, she picked up the apple and bit into it. A large, juicy, messy chunk came off, and Kay started chewing. And watching.
I’m not scared of you, she thought. Because I know what is coming next. I am in control now. I am back.
She swallowed. Rotated the apple. Bit deeply into it again.
The Doaq hesitantly stepped forward.
“That’s far enough.” Kay pulled her left hand out of her jacket and showed the Doaq what was in it. The wired trigger that ran to the small nuclear bomb she was sitting on top of. “Stay right there.”
It looked at the columns, and then down at the floor it stood on. Just like Nashara, it understood exactly what it had walked into.
So it knew. And Kay knew.
And they were back to staring at each other.
Then it groaned – a deep and hideous sound, half corrupt machine and half alien vowels that sounded like nothing at all human. But there was a question behind it, and when it finished, it stared expectantly at her.
“I am Kay. You are?”
The Doaq flicked one of its hands, and a leaf of metal fluttered through the air to land at the wood near Kay’s folded feet.
She put down the apple and picked it up.
It was a silvered business card. Like the ones the rich folk in the Greenhouse districts traded back and forth.
Printed in simple block letters was: D.o.Acq.
Kay didn’t understand. But she pocketed it anyway. “So you are the Doaq.”
It gave a half bow of agreement.
“You understand your position here, correct?” Kay asked it. “It isn’t just a pit you are standing over and charges in those columns pointed at you, but it is also that I am sitting on a nuclear bomb large enough to destroy both of us, and a third of Placa del Fuego.”
She stood up and kicked the cover of the crate open, then stepped aside. An invitation for the alien to see for itself.
It seemed to stretch taller for a moment, peering into the crate, then the shadows it cast shrunk back and the Doaq returned to its normal height.
The sleeves and skeletal fingers fluttered, and it tossed another metal card toward the crate with a puff of silver dust.
Carefully Kay picked it up while facing the Doaq.
“Not … fully nuclear,” Kay read out loud softly. “Dirty bomb.”
Her lips dried.
No.
The Doaq did not look triumphant. But its posture had changed slightly. More relaxed, Kay thought, mind working overtime.
Which was bad. Really bad.
But it hadn’t moved on her.
“It’s not a real nuclear weapon,” she said. “Nashara just packed some radioactivity around a complex-looking weapon to satisfy my tests. But it’ll still sting, won’t it?”
The Doaq nodded and stepped forward. It presented another silvered card, carefully laid on the floor between them, then backed away.
Kay could see the words without picking it up.
WHERE IS THE BOY?
“Why would I tell you that?”
Another card was presented.
THE LOCATION FOR YOUR LIFE.
Kay stared at it for a long moment, trying to decide if it spoke the truth. Unlike the humans she could read so well, it was alien. There were some common body postures, but it was only glancing knowledge. Imperfection.
The Doaq was no open book.
But this was a path out. It was a chance for life, when she’d resigned herself to dying.
“You’ve killed most of my people,” she said. “What happens next?”
It thought for a moment and conjured up another card.
LEAVE. OR I WILL COME FOR YOU. THIS ISLAND IS MINE, NOT YOURS.
For a moment Kay’s thumb hovered over the switch. Pure defiance rippled through her.
The door to the basement opened, and the Doaq stooped to step through.
Kay watched the eyes deep inside the burnt, frayed cowl. Jerome had fought hard. But in the end, as they’d both known, the Doaq was still standing here.
The Doaq’s jaw did not drop to the ground to reveal that maw to hell. It just … regarded her.
Well, now, this was a game Kay understood.
One hand still in her left pocket, she picked up the apple and bit into it. A large, juicy, messy chunk came off, and Kay started chewing. And watching.
I’m not scared of you, she thought. Because I know what is coming next. I am in control now. I am back.
She swallowed. Rotated the apple. Bit deeply into it again.
The Doaq hesitantly stepped forward.
“That’s far enough.” Kay pulled her left hand out of her jacket and showed the Doaq what was in it. The wired trigger that ran to the small nuclear bomb she was sitting on top of. “Stay right there.”
It looked at the columns, and then down at the floor it stood on. Just like Nashara, it understood exactly what it had walked into.
So it knew. And Kay knew.
And they were back to staring at each other.
Then it groaned – a deep and hideous sound, half corrupt machine and half alien vowels that sounded like nothing at all human. But there was a question behind it, and when it finished, it stared expectantly at her.
“I am Kay. You are?”
The Doaq flicked one of its hands, and a leaf of metal fluttered through the air to land at the wood near Kay’s folded feet.
She put down the apple and picked it up.
It was a silvered business card. Like the ones the rich folk in the Greenhouse districts traded back and forth.
Printed in simple block letters was: D.o.Acq.
Kay didn’t understand. But she pocketed it anyway. “So you are the Doaq.”
It gave a half bow of agreement.
“You understand your position here, correct?” Kay asked it. “It isn’t just a pit you are standing over and charges in those columns pointed at you, but it is also that I am sitting on a nuclear bomb large enough to destroy both of us, and a third of Placa del Fuego.”
She stood up and kicked the cover of the crate open, then stepped aside. An invitation for the alien to see for itself.
It seemed to stretch taller for a moment, peering into the crate, then the shadows it cast shrunk back and the Doaq returned to its normal height.
The sleeves and skeletal fingers fluttered, and it tossed another metal card toward the crate with a puff of silver dust.
Carefully Kay picked it up while facing the Doaq.
“Not … fully nuclear,” Kay read out loud softly. “Dirty bomb.”
Her lips dried.
No.
The Doaq did not look triumphant. But its posture had changed slightly. More relaxed, Kay thought, mind working overtime.
Which was bad. Really bad.
But it hadn’t moved on her.
“It’s not a real nuclear weapon,” she said. “Nashara just packed some radioactivity around a complex-looking weapon to satisfy my tests. But it’ll still sting, won’t it?”
The Doaq nodded and stepped forward. It presented another silvered card, carefully laid on the floor between them, then backed away.
Kay could see the words without picking it up.
WHERE IS THE BOY?
“Why would I tell you that?”
Another card was presented.
THE LOCATION FOR YOUR LIFE.
Kay stared at it for a long moment, trying to decide if it spoke the truth. Unlike the humans she could read so well, it was alien. There were some common body postures, but it was only glancing knowledge. Imperfection.
The Doaq was no open book.
But this was a path out. It was a chance for life, when she’d resigned herself to dying.
“You’ve killed most of my people,” she said. “What happens next?”
It thought for a moment and conjured up another card.
LEAVE. OR I WILL COME FOR YOU. THIS ISLAND IS MINE, NOT YOURS.
For a moment Kay’s thumb hovered over the switch. Pure defiance rippled through her.
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