After the Dust Has Settled
written by Ella Lehane
Vivian hadn't had a visitor in a long time, at least not until Andy and Aquila crash-landed outside of her father's estate. Though she's busy trying to fill her parents' shoes as host the best she can, they are both much more interested in finding out her life's secrets... secrets she might not want to know herself. (Original short-ish story)
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
8
Reads
511
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
“But I can’t remember it!” she said, finally looking away, “Why can’t I remember it?”
“Your father… I remember the last time I heard of him. He was famous, you know, one of leaders in the worst war this country had ever seen. He wasn’t involved in the war too directly, never fought, but he could strategize with the best of them. But his children didn’t join, which many criticized him for. Called him a coward, a hypocrite. Many ended up switching sides because of it. So he left the military for a while, went back home with his family, hidden somewhere where he was sure the war couldn’t reach him. But war is unpredictable. A MecWar battalion,” he said, stopping suddenly at the end, realizing something. “I should explain. MecWars were the shortened name for Mechanical Warriors, the robots we had reprogrammed to fight for us.”
Vivian nodded. In a strange way, she felt like she’d known this already, some of it at least, but not like someone had told her, it was more like… it’s like she’d overheard it in a dream.
Aquila continued his story. “One of their groups was being controlled by Isidore Octan, one of Axis’ right hand men. A good man, brave. He’d heard a rumor about a house in the middle of nowhere, possibly Cain’s house. He planned to surround it, arrest Cain, take him back to camp. He didn’t tell anyone else, wanted to do it for himself in case it was a trap, so he set off without telling anyone, taking a troop of MecWars with him. It could have ended the war for good, but something went wrong.”
“What?”
“He didn’t come back. One of the MecWars did return, almost completely destroyed, burnt black and dripping molten metal. Its circuits were almost entirely fried, and it went haywire. Blew up nearly a fifth of camp, mostly supplies. We didn’t pay it much thought, thought it was a glitch, an accident. But Andromeda wouldn’t let it go. He was much too smart to have been killed because of a glitch, he knew programming inside and out… so that night she dragged me and a few others she trusted and we went to investigate. And what we found… wasn’t pretty.”
“There was a crater the size of a lake filled with ashes and cinders and who knows what else in there,” said Andromeda, surprising both of them. She grinned at their flinching. “I’ve been listening for a while. Fixed the engine, by the way. Had to make do with some truly terrible parts for some repairs, since you never showed, but it should fly. Anyways, I think this part is mine to tell, don’t you?” she said with a wry smile at Aquila. He nodded, gesturing at her to go on.
“Octan was still alive when we found him, but barely. All cut up, bleeding everywhere, and the burns… Gods in heaven, I will never forget that smell. But he was still smiling and joking, barely conscious as he was. Told us to say goodbye to his sister, to take care of her. We promised, of course, and right before he went he told us what happened. Or what he could. He explained what he’d been doing here, how he’d never gotten to the house, but had seen him, Cain Grantham. How he’d been about to arrest him, and had surrounded him with MecWars when he’d realized that Cain wasn’t alone. He couldn’t see how many, the wind was blowing the dust around them and it was hard to make even Cain out, but he reckoned there were four more. He tried to explain how they were surrounded, how he only wanted Cain, but he didn’t want the others to be hurt, but he just didn’t have time. Cain, your father, he took out a gun, and pointed it straight at the first MecWar he saw. There was an explosion, bigger and brighter than anything. He blacked out after that.”
Andromeda breathed in, then continued. “We weren’t sure what to believe. The crater was there, and signs of the explosion were everywhere, but we couldn’t know for sure that it had been Cain. Octan was pretty far gone when he told us, and hallucinating at the end. He died soon afterwards, smiling at the stars. Hell of a man.”
“So, we announced his passing the next morning,” she continued, “but we didn’t mention Cain. Wanted to be sure. We never were. Never heard anything about Cain again. War ended a year later. Wolf and I stayed together, but we’re scavengers now. Find things, fix things, sell things, that kind of thing. Not very glamorous, but we get to fly.”
“It wasn’t a gun.”
Andromeda froze and turned to Vivian.
“Your father… I remember the last time I heard of him. He was famous, you know, one of leaders in the worst war this country had ever seen. He wasn’t involved in the war too directly, never fought, but he could strategize with the best of them. But his children didn’t join, which many criticized him for. Called him a coward, a hypocrite. Many ended up switching sides because of it. So he left the military for a while, went back home with his family, hidden somewhere where he was sure the war couldn’t reach him. But war is unpredictable. A MecWar battalion,” he said, stopping suddenly at the end, realizing something. “I should explain. MecWars were the shortened name for Mechanical Warriors, the robots we had reprogrammed to fight for us.”
Vivian nodded. In a strange way, she felt like she’d known this already, some of it at least, but not like someone had told her, it was more like… it’s like she’d overheard it in a dream.
Aquila continued his story. “One of their groups was being controlled by Isidore Octan, one of Axis’ right hand men. A good man, brave. He’d heard a rumor about a house in the middle of nowhere, possibly Cain’s house. He planned to surround it, arrest Cain, take him back to camp. He didn’t tell anyone else, wanted to do it for himself in case it was a trap, so he set off without telling anyone, taking a troop of MecWars with him. It could have ended the war for good, but something went wrong.”
“What?”
“He didn’t come back. One of the MecWars did return, almost completely destroyed, burnt black and dripping molten metal. Its circuits were almost entirely fried, and it went haywire. Blew up nearly a fifth of camp, mostly supplies. We didn’t pay it much thought, thought it was a glitch, an accident. But Andromeda wouldn’t let it go. He was much too smart to have been killed because of a glitch, he knew programming inside and out… so that night she dragged me and a few others she trusted and we went to investigate. And what we found… wasn’t pretty.”
“There was a crater the size of a lake filled with ashes and cinders and who knows what else in there,” said Andromeda, surprising both of them. She grinned at their flinching. “I’ve been listening for a while. Fixed the engine, by the way. Had to make do with some truly terrible parts for some repairs, since you never showed, but it should fly. Anyways, I think this part is mine to tell, don’t you?” she said with a wry smile at Aquila. He nodded, gesturing at her to go on.
“Octan was still alive when we found him, but barely. All cut up, bleeding everywhere, and the burns… Gods in heaven, I will never forget that smell. But he was still smiling and joking, barely conscious as he was. Told us to say goodbye to his sister, to take care of her. We promised, of course, and right before he went he told us what happened. Or what he could. He explained what he’d been doing here, how he’d never gotten to the house, but had seen him, Cain Grantham. How he’d been about to arrest him, and had surrounded him with MecWars when he’d realized that Cain wasn’t alone. He couldn’t see how many, the wind was blowing the dust around them and it was hard to make even Cain out, but he reckoned there were four more. He tried to explain how they were surrounded, how he only wanted Cain, but he didn’t want the others to be hurt, but he just didn’t have time. Cain, your father, he took out a gun, and pointed it straight at the first MecWar he saw. There was an explosion, bigger and brighter than anything. He blacked out after that.”
Andromeda breathed in, then continued. “We weren’t sure what to believe. The crater was there, and signs of the explosion were everywhere, but we couldn’t know for sure that it had been Cain. Octan was pretty far gone when he told us, and hallucinating at the end. He died soon afterwards, smiling at the stars. Hell of a man.”
“So, we announced his passing the next morning,” she continued, “but we didn’t mention Cain. Wanted to be sure. We never were. Never heard anything about Cain again. War ended a year later. Wolf and I stayed together, but we’re scavengers now. Find things, fix things, sell things, that kind of thing. Not very glamorous, but we get to fly.”
“It wasn’t a gun.”
Andromeda froze and turned to Vivian.
