Akaela Read Free Page A

the sparse stubble on his face. “Fine. But let
me remind you not to underestimate the Gaijins’ power. You guys are too young to
remember their last attack on the Tower. I lived through that, and this—”
he raises his prosthetic hand and balls it into a fist, the silicone outer
layer squeaking softly as he squeezes his fingers together “—is what is
what I lost that night.”
    I wrap Ash
in his little blanket and carefully pick him up. “We know, Uli,” I say. “Dad
told us many times.”
    Athel
prods one of the chips on Uli’s workbench with a finger. “We miss Dad, Uli. Reminding
us of the Gaijins’ brutality doesn’t help.”
    Uli’s face
colors again, his straight gray hair plastered against his temples. “Oh, I
didn’t mean it that way. Your Dad knows what he’s doing. Believe me. That’s why
he was one of the three chosen to be our ambassadors with the Gaijins. They’ll
be back sooner than you know with the much awaited supplies we’ve requested.
The Gaijins are still mad at us but they can’t deny three unarmed men begging
for our species’ survival.”
    Athel
looks down and bobs his head. “I hope so,” he says, his voice low.
    Uli waves
his prosthetic hand in the air and grabs the drill with his other hand. “Go,
now. I’ve got work to do. You ordered a new hand for your Mom’s birthday,
didn’t you?” He spins the drill and winks.
    I bring a
finger to my mouth. “Shh,” I say. “It’s going to be a surprise!”
    Athel
smiles, his eyes still laced with sadness now that he’s thought of Dad. “Thank
you, Uli.”
    I snuggle
Ash against my chest. “Yes. Thank you.”
    As we
shuffle down the hallway and up the stairs to our quarters, I watch my sleeping
kitten’s little face, his pink nose scrunched against my chest. It makes me so
happy to know that Uli was able to fix him.
    “Do you
think the M3 droid will come after us?” I ask Athel as we step inside the
elevator.
    Athel
shrugs. “Droids are stupid. And they can’t cross the river.”
    “Droids
are stupid, but the Gaijins who made them aren’t.”
    The old
elevator car reaches our floor with a loud clang. The doors squeak open.
    Athel
lowers his voice. “I think next time we should get more than just a droid
hand.” He winks. “Think of the stuff we could get. Lithium batteries,
nanocircuits, thermosensors…” He walks to our door waving a hand up in the air,
a devious smile plastered on his dreamy face.
    We’re the
Mayakes. We survived the Plague , we
won’t perish now .

 
    Chapter Two

 
    Akaela
    Kael taps the metal flap on my
forearm. Tap, tap, tap .
I blink. The timestamp on my retina tells me it’s 4:30 a.m. Too early to get up . I shoo Kael away and roll over. The falcon flaps his
wings and leaves. Minutes later, I hear him bugging my brother in the bunk bed
above mine.
    Tap, tap, tap .
    I drift
back to sleep, but it doesn’t last long. The springs of Athel’s bed whine. He
tosses away his blanket, climbs down from his bed and runs to the window. “Holy
Kawa!”
    I sit up.
“What’s happening?”
    “Droids,”
Athel mutters. “Lots of them. Go call Mom.”
    I sprint
from the bed and lean out the window. The river bend shimmers under the grin of
a crescent moon. Along the shore closer to the Tower, fishing nets hang from
their stilts and shiver in the night breeze. The droids lurk on the other side,
at least half a dozen of them, their bulky silhouettes delineated by the
blinking LEDs studding their backs. They wobble back and forth on their claw
legs, flashing their eye beams as though looking for something.
    Kael
clasps the windowsill with his talons and bobs his head, smelling the danger.
    Droids fear
water. They scavenge the mesa by day and spend the night in the gorge, their robotic
frames folded into big metal cubes. Their presence by the river tonight is not
only unusual. It’s ominous.
    Are the Gaijins planning a new attack ?
    Muffled
voices come from the kitchen. Athel and I exchange a