The Whorls of Jupiter

Chapter 21 A Modest Proposal (End of Part 1)

August 9th 2521 Waning 2

"All hands, prepare for launch. Yari Station will fire in 5 minutes."

"Claudette! Secure the prisoner!"

"Jorge, give me a hand."

Claudette secured Oddie to a bulkhead and took the key but allowed Jorge to stay with him.

"Hell of a trip huh?" Jorge said as Claudette settled and strapped in a few seats away.

"Jorge? Is that you?"

Jorge tapped his visor and the glass became transparent. "Never thought I'd see you again brother."

"Me neither!" Oddie cried. "The Cap! He's fucking crazy."

"What happened?"

As Oddie recounted every detail he could remember, the comms chimed in with the countdown to space. Claudette listened in on everything. It seemed a compelling enough story but she wasn't concerned with ancient gods made of liquid metal or alien forces. She was more concerned with Jorge's reaction. For now she'd kept him hidden but he was wanted everywhere. The innies were just too incompetent to properly work together or they'd have IDed him immediately, even with Claudette helping him on the inside.

He took credit for my work. I can't let him get away with it. Jorge Murillo 'the scarlet hunter?' Don't make me laugh! Any barbarian can gun down pirates and soldiers in the sky. But my work is an artform. Paralysis of the victim, slowly disassembling them while narrating the process, looking into their eyes in their last moments when they bleed out. That's true intimacy...

***

August 9th 2521 Venus, Monolith Morning Cycle

"I... I... I... hadn't expected this..." Edward said as legions of Consumed roamed the streets of Antarctica gathering bodies to burn and struggling to find food now that the economy had been reset into the stone age. Some consumed simply remained still until they starved to death while others ran about scavenging and trying to survive.

"Unfortunately dear, it's the cost of progress." Sophia replied coldly as some of the Consumed began feeding on a dead child.

"Progress?! This is a massive setback!" Edward said angrily.

"How the hell am I to control the system when all that's left in it are feral animals, terrorists, and genocidal madmen!"

"That's why we're here and not there. Bridgemoor is the only light in the darkness."

"Honey, depopulating the earth and altering our species was not on the agenda."

"So what then? You're not putting the Kirin back into the clouds now."

Edward T. Bridgemoor's mind raced frantically, "We still don't know enough about the Kirin."

"Intercepted transmissions say that there are survivors," Commander Abastus Riley interjected from behind them.

"I can see that," Edward said annoyed watching bonfires of thousands of dead being burned by the more organized of the Consumed.

"No sir, not the Consumed that are moving or organizing. There's at least two men that have come into direct contact with the Kirin and survived."

"They weren't consumed?"

"Patient Zero was but then he survived and at last contact seemed to still retain his individuality."

"Thorian Finn? You must be joking."

"Last contact said he changed his name again. This time he's 'Forsaken Bravo.'"