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Bruja
The world on the surface has been torn apart. In one place a man lives alone deep underground for decades thinking there are only the ruined things that were once human above.
There is a an underground city built by the wealthy in anticipation of destruction on the surface. And there is a small, sharply divided enclave on the surface which was protected from the destruction. They are the remnants and vassals of a hidden power.
Snippets
Snippet 1
‘Dad and I were playing a game of chess when, even though we were two levels down and had many meters of clay and rock between us and the surface, we heard this tremendous roar. We hit the floor; we thought someone must be blasting their way in. Father checked his surface cameras but there were a few seconds of some kind of shockwave, and then no signal. Our cameras never worked again.’
Snippet 2
They both became aware of an intermittent droning sound. It was surprising, because it was coming from the sky. All of the time either of them had spent on the surface, the sky had always been silent.
A large black dot was moving across the endless blue, several miles to the east. There would be a steady drone from what must have been an old combustion type aeroplane, broken by intervals of silence. As they watched, smaller back dots began to fall from the plane with parachutes opening immediately they cleared it. This process continued for some time, until the plane began to climb steeply. Now it could be seen and heard that after each surge it fell back a little. Three large cubes fell, two caught by parachutes and one falling straight to the earth. There were more castoffs from the plane but it was moving away. It was reaching high into the heavens and then appeared to lose all power and Stitch thought he could see it falling like a leaf, earthbound.
Snippet 3
‘Come over here my girl.’ He was jovial, as if the savage violence of a moment before had never happened. ‘Give him a call and ask him anything you want. Anything. But be prepared for a good deal of information on …’ he looked closely down at the screen trying to find the right number ‘… tulips.’ He handed the phone to Sky and she saw a number on the keypad. She wished she’d looked for a name.
After a moment’s hesitation Sky pressed the button expecting an icon to come up indicating the phone the old man must be carrying was ringing. The man didn’t answer the phone nor look up, his head simply exploded leaving a grotesque figure kneeling briefly, headless, and then falling forward into the flowers.
Denis gave a laugh. ‘Now that never gets old. You should have seen your face. Kwai? Who the xxxx is Kwai? I don’t know who the xxxx that was, and I don’t care.’ A look of sheer horror began to take hold of Sky’s face. He kept laughing. ‘Like I said Sky, everyone is content with their lot because everyone except me has an implant. They don’t have to worry about anything, their needs are supplied and their objectives are clear.'
Snippet 4
The regulars were unused to the sight of the Colonel running. He was yelling at the Regulars if they’d seen Sky, and to the Wheel fighters if they knew which way the Bruja went. He came up on a line of men and women waiting in a tunnel about to climb the ladder into the grove above once given the go ahead. He saw her. She was at the front of the line. He had never seen it himself, but he’d seen it in documentaries about runners in the Olympics the world used to have. Though she didn’t know it, she was doing the same things.
There is a an underground city built by the wealthy in anticipation of destruction on the surface. And there is a small, sharply divided enclave on the surface which was protected from the destruction. They are the remnants and vassals of a hidden power.
Snippets
Snippet 1
‘Dad and I were playing a game of chess when, even though we were two levels down and had many meters of clay and rock between us and the surface, we heard this tremendous roar. We hit the floor; we thought someone must be blasting their way in. Father checked his surface cameras but there were a few seconds of some kind of shockwave, and then no signal. Our cameras never worked again.’
Snippet 2
They both became aware of an intermittent droning sound. It was surprising, because it was coming from the sky. All of the time either of them had spent on the surface, the sky had always been silent.
A large black dot was moving across the endless blue, several miles to the east. There would be a steady drone from what must have been an old combustion type aeroplane, broken by intervals of silence. As they watched, smaller back dots began to fall from the plane with parachutes opening immediately they cleared it. This process continued for some time, until the plane began to climb steeply. Now it could be seen and heard that after each surge it fell back a little. Three large cubes fell, two caught by parachutes and one falling straight to the earth. There were more castoffs from the plane but it was moving away. It was reaching high into the heavens and then appeared to lose all power and Stitch thought he could see it falling like a leaf, earthbound.
Snippet 3
‘Come over here my girl.’ He was jovial, as if the savage violence of a moment before had never happened. ‘Give him a call and ask him anything you want. Anything. But be prepared for a good deal of information on …’ he looked closely down at the screen trying to find the right number ‘… tulips.’ He handed the phone to Sky and she saw a number on the keypad. She wished she’d looked for a name.
After a moment’s hesitation Sky pressed the button expecting an icon to come up indicating the phone the old man must be carrying was ringing. The man didn’t answer the phone nor look up, his head simply exploded leaving a grotesque figure kneeling briefly, headless, and then falling forward into the flowers.
Denis gave a laugh. ‘Now that never gets old. You should have seen your face. Kwai? Who the xxxx is Kwai? I don’t know who the xxxx that was, and I don’t care.’ A look of sheer horror began to take hold of Sky’s face. He kept laughing. ‘Like I said Sky, everyone is content with their lot because everyone except me has an implant. They don’t have to worry about anything, their needs are supplied and their objectives are clear.'
Snippet 4
The regulars were unused to the sight of the Colonel running. He was yelling at the Regulars if they’d seen Sky, and to the Wheel fighters if they knew which way the Bruja went. He came up on a line of men and women waiting in a tunnel about to climb the ladder into the grove above once given the go ahead. He saw her. She was at the front of the line. He had never seen it himself, but he’d seen it in documentaries about runners in the Olympics the world used to have. Though she didn’t know it, she was doing the same things.
557 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 15, 2024
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