Well, this gets better and better.” She leaned back in her chair and said in a low voice, “If there's anything I hate more than an unpopular vulgarian, it is a blaspheming vulgarian.”
“Please, my level of popularity is irrelevant; just listen to--”
“Do you know how anything works? How can I ignore the source of the information? Nobody likes you, and there must be good reason. All those people, as a whole, cannot be wrong.”
“I'm not so certain. Perhaps they simply don't understand what--”
“So everyone is stupid except you? Well, now we can add arrogance to your list of charming characteristics. Guards, chop off her hands and take her down to Tier 60.”
The guards gripped Aoi tightly. “Wait! There's something approaching Earth! It has been seen by the Akran!”
The Mayor stood abruptly and held out her hand. “Belay that!” The guards let go. The Mayor's drone rose above her head, and she looked fiercely into Aoi's eyes. “Akran?”
“Yes . . . .” Aoi said quietly.
“How do you know about them? That information is Mayor's Eyes Only.”
“I encountered them in the Archives.” Aoi's eyes rolled to the side. “That's an Akran, right there. Don't you recognize one when you see it?”
The Mayor's eyes went from Aoi to the Akran, then to each of the guards, then back to Aoi. “Then you understood the Defense Net Alert. This is about the ship approaching Earth,” the Mayor said in a low voice.
“You . . . knew about it already,” Aoi said.
“Of course. I wouldn't be much of a mayor if I did not. But in your wisdom, you thought you were the only one who could understand, and you just needed to bring your hysteria into these royal halls.”
“What are you going to do to prepare? To defend us?”
The Mayor's brow muscles stretched taught. “How much more will you continue to embarrass yourself? The ship is of no consequence. I do not protect this city. Machines do not protect this city. The Great Sky Goddess does; and when She does not, the Ascended Sisters will.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am confident. I am faithful. You are nothing but an ignorant vulgarian.” To the guards: “Put her in a room and hold her there for now,” she ordered. “Oh, and muzzle that mouth of hers.” The guards nodded and began to haul Aoi away. The Akran followed her. “Akran,” the Mayor said, “Stay here.” The Akran stayed.
Five: Do Not Fear
Aoi sat crumpled on the cold floor of a small room. The door crack was hidden among the engraved patterns on the metallic walls. She breathed forcefully through the muzzle that was strapping her jaw shut. There was no telling time of day: only artificial light entered the room from the seam where the walls met the ceiling. Eventually the door opened and the same two guards took her out. They brought her through the main hall to the opening behind the Mayor's desk. There was no sign of the Akran.
A guard whispered into her ear: “Do not speak unless the Mayor asks you to.” And she removed the muzzle from Aoi's face before escorting her out onto the terrace.
They were on a semicircular balcony, above another terrace which held a throng of people. It was late in the day, and the sky had grown overcast; at this height the clouds were not far above. The Mayor stood at the edge of the balcony with her arm raised, projecting her voice to the crowd below.
“Good citizens of Tier 2, your loyalty and piety rises above all others, and this is why you are first to be informed by me of this great injustice.” The guards halted a few paces behind her, still clutching Aoi. “I have received through divine revelation,” the Mayor continued, “that our precious city has been stained by the blasphemy of this wicked vulgarian,” she pointed to Aoi; “and that the Great Sky Goddess has sent an incarnation of her wrath to punish us all!” The Mayor raised both arms on the last word, and the crowd began to murmur.
The Mayor lowered her arms. “But do not fear! The Sky Goddess wishes to teach us a lesson, not to eradicate us. I believe that as long as we stand together with pious hearts, our Ascended Sisters will protect us from harm.” The crowd rustled.
“We must hide in the Underrealm!” Aoi yelled.
“Silence that deceitful tongue!” the Mayor bellowed and pointed at her. One guard roughly grabbed Aoi's jaw and clamped it shut.
Someone called up from the crowd below: “Throw her off the top terrace! Show the Goddess we will not have blasphemers among us!”
“Yes, that would be just,” the Mayor said. “But I am a merciful mayor, and I have already decided to exile her to live in the muck on the Plain of Death.”
Aoi wrestled the hand away from her face. “That's as much a death sentence as throwing me off the--” The guard regained control.
The Mayor ignored her. She began to raise her arms again. “The best thing for us is--” Thunder crackled near the horizon and reverberated on the flat landscape. The Mayor hesitated. “The best thing--” She stopped, frozen.
Something slid below the cloud deck, twisting, turning. Then another one, and then a third. The crowed turned away from the balcony to see what captivated the Mayor. The objects moved in different directions, slithering through the sky like black eels. One of them turned its undulating mass toward the throng's contorted faces. Suddenly it no longer seemed far away. The crowd began to disperse, screaming. The form of the sky snake began to curve, wrapping around the city. Static sparks, miniature fingers of lightning, flowed along dark skin; now Aoi could see holes of several different sizes on the leading surface, funneled and machined to precision.
The Mayor and her guards ran toward the balcony door. There was a tight beam of light, a crack of thunder, and their ashes reached the Mayor's desk as black clouds. Aoi felt a hot wind whip at her red robe. She inhaled deeply, smelling ozone. She stood alone on the balcony, alone at the pinnacle of the tower. Lines of light crackled around her, drilling holes into the balcony. She raised her head as the last daylight was blocked. And then it was too dark to see.
***
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