The Aethernet Falls

Chapter 7 - Greco

The man in the suit stood there, his mouth agape when he realized he was looking down the barrel of a gun. Boros was staring him down and Clarissa, clutching her side, was glaring in turn at Boros. His face was hard as stone, unflinching until his lips twitched upwards in a cruel grin. Clarissa had never seen her brother like this.

The silence they stood in only lasted a few, breathless moments. The man whose home they stood in now stood up straight, coughed once, and fiddled with his tie and collar. His face turned from one of shock to a smile that said to Boros that he felt he was in control of the situation.

“Get out of my f*****g house.” He wasn’t shouting like before, but his voice carried more weight. There was a venom to him and a self-assured air, the kind that oozed off a politician even through the feeds. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Boros didn’t miss a beat, “Do you have any idea how little I care?” He flicked the safety off with his thumb but otherwise didn’t move. The gun was light, likely made from the same high-density plastic as the bullets it fired. He could have held it at arms-length all day.

“I’m Greco, assistant chairman to the defense and power boards. Do you know what that means?” He didn’t turn away, but the tone of his voice gave Boros the distinct impression that he was tiring of the conversation already.

“It means you have more money than sense, a silver tongue in that hideous grin, and, right about now, few options.”

Greco laughed. “I always have options.”

Boros took one step forward, closing the already small gap between them. Hoping against hope that the man could be intimidated. “Not anymore you don’t. Do you have any idea what’s happening?”

It was Clarissa who spoke up next. “The Aethernet is done.” The tone of her voice shocked her brother, something between head-strong and dangerous. “That means anything you had any power over is going to come crashing down.” She looked up, hoping that reminding him of the orbital battleship that would be crashing to the surface any minute now would break him.

“Oh. That.” The politician snarled. “That’s what a minor mistake aboard a multi-trillion dollar enterprise looks like. It doesn’t mean-“ He was interrupted by a ringing. He pulled the small black device out of his pocket, the same he used to open the walls to the tower and pressed something on its matte surface.

A loud, furious voice came through over the small speaker, too localized for Boros or his sister to hear anything. It finished a short tirade with what sounded to Boros like a question.

“I had nothing to do with that and you know it. The defense grid opens up at anything without clearance and since one of your boys decided to shoot it to s**t before it hit atmosphere meant it couldn’t get clearance.”

The angry voice again.

“Of course I know how much it cost. I didn’t order the first strike on it, though. That’s on you.”

The device barked at him again, but in an instant seemed to lose all of its aggression.

“What the hell do you mean they’re all coming down? That was a freak accident as far as the last communication shows.”

The voice on the other end began another tirade but Greco closed the connection. “What in the f**k do you two know about this?” He demanded. He didn’t realize that Boros had closed in on him, could only tell when it was too late. The butt of the pistol connected with his forehead with a loud crack and the man in the suit crumpled to the floor.

-

When Greco came to again he wasn’t in the entryway anymore. He was deep in the sub-basements he had installed and subsequently filled with anything he might need or want. The automatons that usually brought up whatever his whims commanded were deactivated and the two strangers in his home were burning what looked like the pages from expensive books, and spit-roasting a large hunk of meat. They must have been at it a while as the surface of it was blackening.

“That’s f*****g wagyu there, you’re going to f*****g ruin it.” He shouted “Who the f**k are you and what do you want?”

“The last one tasted fine.” Boros replied. He lifted the meat away from the fire and inspected it.

“I’m Clarissa, that’s my brother, Boros.” His sister said, her voice calm again but she was clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

“You’re wasted thousands of dollars of damn fine meat.”

“I thought it tasted fancy.” Boros was still examining the meat. He took a small knife and cut off a bit. Juice dripped from it onto the carpeted floor. “As for what we’re doing here, you clearly know what’s going on out there. I do too. You’re going to get us out of the city.”

Greco cringed at the sight before him. The two of them were sloppy, boorish. Even the girl, as pretty as she was. Good looks didn’t always make for good manners. The man, Boros, cut off a large piece and put it on a plate the girl, Clarissa was using. She ate it greedily, as though it may very well be her last meal.

“Yea f*****g right you two know what’s happening.”

Boros interrupted, “The fusion stations are going to go critical. There’s one in the city, and so we want out.”

Greco scoffed, “That is the most advanced technology we as human beings have ever worked with. Its not going to shut down just because its taking over the load of all the fission plants sooner than expected. That was always just a job scheme. Have to re-home those idiots working at the old plants before we could even think about bringing them down. Looks bad for the party otherwise.”

Now he’s talkative. Boros thought. He’ll let us think we’re getting somewhere, then he’ll call the cops, or bring down some sort of security while he thinks he’s got us on the ropes. He took a bite straight from the skewer he was cooking with. “Look, bad things are coming,” He swallowed, “And you’re not going to want to be here any more than we do. Why else would you be running home with your tail between your legs.”

The implications of what Boros said were clear to the man, he was calling him a coward, pure and simple. Running away from his problems rather than fixing them. What was worse was that the man who was pointing a gun at him before was talking down to him. To the great Greco who rose from nothing to become one of the most important men in the country, the man whose word meant the difference between billions of people sleeping easy at night and going to war.

Worse than that, he knew he would give in. If Greco thought he was in a bad situation now he knew it could become infinitely worse. Surely Boros wouldn’t put a hole in his head and walk away with whatever he could carry. He didn’t seem like the type. He could use that to his advantage, and if Boros was right about the Aethernet, then maybe he would need help getting out of the city too. He had a ground car, could even drive it, but how far could he make it out without being crushed by a falling piece of orbital battleship? How long did he have until the fusion reactor went critical and swallowed up everything in a thousand kilometer radius?

Of course he had some answers himself, but perhaps Boros had more, as unlikely as it seemed. Maybe he was a worker in the fusion reactor with some insider knowledge.

“Tell me what you know.” Greco said calmly. Clarissa smiled at him, then turned to look at her brother. “If you can convince me of anything then I guess I’ll be wanting to get out of here just as bad as you.”