Chapter 76: Dead End

It was raining on Big City. In the wide deserted streets, apart from a few wandering AIs, only modern drones circulated, on the lookout for strayed citizens.

It was night, whatever the hour. Between two blocks, in a narrow alley, Lucky wrapped himself in a coat to keep out the cold, something he had never really known.

Euyin, his hat dripping with rain, approached. Under the miserable shelter of a garbage room, he set fire to a few scraps. They stretched out their hands to warm themselves, but by the magic of the After’s lines of code, the flames were barely at room temperature. They had wrecked everything.

- “Why did Big City turn into crap, Eye?” asked Lucky, his hands trembling. “And why is there no one? Where is everybody?”

Euyin, with the nose of a Persian king and bronzed skin, trench coat and cliché twentieth-century detective’s hat, answered in a deep voice and with a shining eye.

- “You’re not up to date with current events, are you. The new head of HS, the Aleph, he requisitioned the departed. They have to pilot drones, living creatures, to conquer worlds. When you’ve filled your quota, you can come back here. But they’ve made this world uncomfortable. It’s autumn on all the sanctuary islands and everything there is gloomy. On Big City, it’s a nightmare. The games don’t work anymore. Pax is under maintenance. The idea is that we return in their military drones because life is better there.

- Why wasn’t I requisitioned, me?

- Because you’re the dumbest of idiots, Lucky.

- No, seriously!

- I think it’s because you were in an Android. The AIs thought you were outside in a drone, because no one uses Androids. You’d have to be as dumb as you. So you over-fulfilled your contract.

- And you?

- You know ... I’m aware of everything, whether in the After or in HS. When they requisitioned me I led an army on a planet. And it worked so well I got the right to come back here.

- What did you do?

- They wanted to wipe out a Xeno planet. I carried out an operation with terrifying brilliance. They dumped three million units on the planet, but they were disorganized. So I put the bite in place. Basically, we line the units up on the equator, that makes a circle, right? Well, then we move up together, meter by meter, toward the poles. Since there’s less space, the extra units do the same thing going down. If the enemies flee, we catch up and kill them.