hotmtlnovel Book 3: Chapter 19: Cities Attacked
Book 3: Chapter 19: Cities Attacked
Book 3: Chapter 19: Cities Attacked
Marcus
September 2215
Poseidon
“They’ve done it. They’ve actually gone and done it!” Vinnie waved his phone like a weapon as he stomped toward me. Vinnie was not physically imposing, but somehow he managed to look like an unstoppable juggernaut when in his angry marching mode.
“And by it, you mean...” Kal looked up from his tablet, where he’d been working on an engineering design for a new fish harvesting system.
A dozen of us sat or reclined on the ring of grass that formed the periphery of the flying city of Amhor. Most residents who could manage it performed their daily duties on lawn chairs or even on blankets. The air circulation systems were very carefully designed to keep the air temps down around a comfortable spring day in our domed environment—and it helped that fibrex didn’t trap infrared like traditional glass.
Life was hell, but we tried to bear up under the burden.
Vinnie threw himself down on the grass and tossed his phone onto a nearby side table. “The Council has declared us deserters and forbidden any contact. They’re confiscating any assets owned by any city resident that they can get their hands on, and issued warrants for our arrest.”
Damn. That meant I would no longer be able to spend my time monitoring things for them, fixing things for them, running things for them...boo hoo. I grinned, and Kal looked at me quizzically.
“Are the Bobs going to take that lying down?” Kal glared at me.
I chuckled in response. “Well, the Bobs consists of me, in this system, so not very much of a threat. I have ship busters, but they’re only useful in a full-scale engagement. I’ve got some roamers, but I wouldn’t want to sacrifice them in a guerilla war. I have my printers, but it would take time to set up a full autofactory, and more time to get mining going again.”
“So we’re dead in the water?”
“For the moment, as far as they know,” I responded. “But they also know we’ll rebuild our own resources in short order. They have to bring us to our knees before we can do so.”
“How?”
I shrugged. “Resource interdiction, which they’ve already done; denial of food sources, which they incorrectly think they can do; and cutting us off from any space assets, which I’m surprised to say they haven’t—”
At that moment, the signal from my decoy cut off. “Son of a bitch. They did it.”
All heads turned to stare at me. I shrugged and gave them a twisted grin. “They just blew me up!”