City Without Suns by Wade Andrew Butcher Read Free Book Online Page A

happened with you.”
    Minutes turned to hours.  The conversation turned from philosophy to nostalgia and then finally to practical matters of survival.  I asked if he was worried about the end of the calendar year, to which he replied that he would simply hide from the census-takers to avoid extermination.
    “I have a bad feeling about the end of this year too,” I said.
    The catalytic conversation with Jay gave me an idea that I pondered as I was returning to my quarters.  I should be able to contact Leonidas somehow.  Maybe I’m crazy for thinking I should, but I have to do something proactive to improve the chance of survival for Eon and me.  Even if I cannot contact him directly, I should be able to plant some communication for him to see that would lure him to me.  I can reason with him and make the case for my survival.  I know my name is in the census.  I must be an extermination candidate soon.  I am past child-bearing years, and I have no other current assignment.  I can approach him to make a logical argument that improved conditions down here would lead to more stability in his best interest.
    I must suppress this entry so it is neither transmitted nor found.

Chapter 10
     
    December 31, 2829
     
    My door has been bolted shut.  A day ago they announced on the intercoms: the annual purge will take place tomorrow.  If you are slated for extermination, you will be confined to quarters.
    My attempts to contact Leonidas have failed, and my desperate attempt to reclaim some purpose here has been lost. This purge seems to satisfy the sick need of our leadership.
    They say this will be the third annual purge.  When the first one happened, I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that we might eventually be targeted. There was no precedent for the event except for scattered individual disappearances.  No suspicion existed that the people escorted from our levels were on a death march.  There were twelve that first time. I will now be one of those people.
    I’m ready to be taken away from this place, but Eon is scared and angry, and I am even angrier than him at the thought of his execution.  There is faint yelling through the hall. There is banging on doors.  I would say it is futile, but Eon is one of detained individuals yelling and banging on the fastened door as if somebody was on the other side to hear.  I don’t want to tell him to stop.
    The time is drawing near.  Farewell Father.

 
     
     
    Part 3
     
    Musings of El Salazar

Chapter 11
     
    January 10, 2830
     
    I address this writing to no one except my own tortured soul.  Eon, the offspring of my fellow Islander is helping transcribe my words into the machine, the communications terminal at the foot of their beds.  I do not know the destination of my story, but I hope it finds a way home to Bishop Islands, and somebody there remembers me and knows I miss them.  I was with General Mason and Isla at our departure on that day in 2806 from Matamoros on Earth.
                  Whether Chiara Bishop forgives me or not for removing one of her prized genetic accomplishments, I suppose it does not matter, but I ask for understanding if not forgiveness.  My commitment to Leonidas, ingrained in me at birth, compelled me to do what I did.  My allegiances to the Bishops, Leonidas, and the Wingtons were irreconcilable.  Boarding this ship was the only thing I could do to resolve those conflicting loyalties.  It pains me to disappoint any of these people, my Islanders, who I am sworn to protect with my life.  Ten days ago, I was on the verge of forfeiting that miserable life, as it did not seem fit to provide that protection.
    If Isla had been put to death under my watch, my breeding would have lost its intended purpose.  All that I am would have been a failure, if not already.  I would sooner take her place than to see her exterminated without cause, but what am I to do if Leonidas, my captain, is the one that gives the