Neptune’s Orphans by Sarah A. Hoyt
Posted by Darwin - 14/01/10 at 04:01 pm
We are proud to present this novelette-length short story by Sarah Hoyt set in the same universe as her recently released “Dark Ship Thieves” novel.
***
Before the first burner singed the air, I had jumped. I didn’t know why. Perhaps I wasn’t truly asleep and heard strange steps in the hallway. Or perhaps a voice whispering what was planned for us. I don’t know.
Whatever warning there was fell into my sleeping mind and made my body react. I woke up half way through my jump-and-dive, dragging with me my brother Pol, who slept in the next bed. We thudded together into a too-narrow space between his bed and the wall.
It saved our lives, because the blinding flash of the burner swung in an arc which sliced my bed in two, setting it on fire. Still half asleep, dazzled by the brilliance of the light, the acrid smoke in my nostrils, I pushed Pol further back and down, shoving him right next to the wall and pressing close to him, close, my heart beating a deafening rhythm.
“Cas, what–?” he said, his voice barely audible, because in addition to the sizzling sounds of the burners there were now screams and gurgles, moans and cries for mercy. I recognized the voices of my dormitory mates, and I didn’t want to recognize them. I’d never heard them sound like that.
My hand covered Pol’s mouth, my other hand tapped against his shoulder, in dark-water-language, “Shut up, shut up, shut up. Stay quiet. Shut up.”
He made a movement, but didn’t try to fight free or to speak again. The burners zinged and cut, and our dorm mates – judging by the noises – screamed and died. I braced my feet against the ceramite floor, and tried to become one with the wall. Thoughts ran through my head like water dripping from a burst tank. They’ll see us! They’ll set fire to the bed!
And at the same time, a mad part of me wanted to run out there and save my creche mates, the closest thing I had to a family.
It wasn’t that I was particularly close to any of them. Pol and I were twins, a freak accident in the building process, an egg that gave our fabricators a bonus: another homo-aquaticus, designed for intelligence and cunning and speed, who could be trained for the war against the Earthworms.
Read the rest of the story: [ On-Line ] [ Mobi E-book Download via Lulu ]
Written by Sarah A. Hoyt
Illustration “Sirena” by Jesus Garcia