Chapter One

 by Jirina Linnea

     The shrill notes of the evacuation alarm blared through the cavern, echoing off the walls in a harsh, resounding tone that made every worker freeze.

     Get out.

     Ash’s fingers locked around the handle of her wrench as she caught the shock on Piper’s face.

     At orientation, each worker had been made to memorize the Furnace’s four alarms – one for break time, one for end of shift, one for equipment malfunction, and one for immediate evacuation. After sounding the latter, the orientation leaders had laughed, informing the workers it was only there due to regulations. It had never sounded, and it would take a calamity for it to ever be used.

     Get out now.

     As if a switch had been flipped, everyone began to move at once. Workers sprinted for the exits, stumbling and pushing, their screams unheard over the wailing of the alarm.

     Get out or you will die.

     Down in the Furnace, surrounded by all that fire and magma, it would be an awful way to die.

     Piper grabbed Ash’s hand, her lips forming words even Ash’s large Athari ears could not pick up over the commotion. But the panic on Piper’s face conveyed her message clearly, and Ash’s instincts finally kicked in. The two of them raced toward the nearest exit, pushing and shoving their way through the panicking crowd. They had nearly reached it when an ear-shattering explosion overwhelmed the alarm, and the entire cavern shook.

     Ash, Piper, and several others nearby were knocked to the ground. The stone trembled beneath Ash’s hands, and in her disorientation, all she could imagine was the ground cracking beneath her, hurtling her down, down to be consumed by the magma —

     Get up. Get up!

     Ears ringing, body aching, Ash hauled herself upright, reaching out to grab Piper’s hand to drag her out of the cavern if necessary. All that met her was the blank stare of Piper’s lifeless eyes as blood pooled around the back of her head. Ash reached out to check her pulse, knowing what she would find. Her friend, her work partner, was already turning the awful gray color of an Athari whose heart has stopped beating.

     Another explosion shattered Ash’s moment of mourning – so close she could feel the heat blast on her tearstained cheeks.

Ash whirled around, preparing to scramble up and bolt. And that is when she saw them.

     They looked like angels — their blue and white suits cutting through the heat and the fire of the Furnace as they swooped overhead, held aloft by jet packs strapped to their backs. And for one fleeting second, Ash believed they must have been there to help.

     The angelic figures hovered by the pillars that housed the Furnace’s central console. One of them stuck something cylindrical to the pillar while the other flew around to the opposite side to do the same.

     The workers had all but cleared out, leaving Ash alone with a scattering of bodies. And she understood why those hovering figures were there. They were bombers. They were the reason for the evacuation alarm. They were the cause of Piper’s death.

     Somehow, the wrench was still clutched in one of Ash’s hands. Shifting into a crouch, she reared back and hurled the tool at the closest figure. It struck his jet pack, causing sparks to flare up and rain down into the magma below.

     Ash didn’t wait to see what happened next. Leaving the body of her friend, she staggered to her feet and ran.

     The Fire Squad met Ash halfway out of the evacuation shaft. One of them grabbed her around the waist, pivoted, and carried her out the rest of the way over his shoulder. She tried to yell at him, to warn the others about the bombers inside the Furnace, but her ears were ringing so badly and the evacuation alarm was still blaring so loudly, she wasn’t sure if any sound was coming from her lips.

     When they finally broke out into the open air of the city’s lower level, the large Thundallin Fire Squad member set Ash down. He grunted something in Thundall and pointed to a tent that had been set up several yards away. She waved him off, pointing vigorously back towards the evacuation shaft they’d come out of. Her voice was rough and hoarse as she tried to tell him in the universal language that there might be another explosion, and he needed to warn the members of his Squad who were rushing inside. She thought he finally understood after she resorted to hand gestures and sound effects, because he grunted in something that sounded like affirmation before speaking hurriedly into his comm, but he left her and charged back toward the Furnace before she could make sure.

     The entire time Ash was getting checked out by the doctors in the triage tent, she was waiting for another explosion, but it never came.

     Once she had been cleared by the medics, she was instructed to return home early without finishing her shift, as the facility was still under threat. And because they were close enough to the end of her work day, already.

     Ash trudged home, choosing to take the streets on foot rather than try to get on public transport covered in grime and sweat from the ordeal, She had been so distracted, she hadn’t realized she still wore her heat resistant gloves, and the goggles used for eye protection against the heat and the fire. People avoided her as she put one foot in front of the other. A half human, half Athari girl was generally given a wide berth on a good day, and that counted doubly for a day where it looked like she had just crawled her way out of hell.

     Since she would arrive home before the end of her scheduled shift, no one in Ash’s family would be there to greet her except her sister, Nisha, who was finishing her second to last year at the Academy before she, too, joined the workforce.

     Ash’s family had been relatively lucky to all find work to help pay for the expense of living, which was high even in the lower levels of the Undercity. When Ash had landed her job at the Furnace after her own graduation, it had taken a significant burden off her parents, because management was required to offer a higher wage due to the hazardous environment. 

     The extra pay from the Furnace helped make up for the reduced pay Ash’s mother received because she was fully human, and seen as a lower species by many employers. Humans were seen as a violent and unstable species, due to the historical atrocities they committed, which made them a bad business decision in most eyes.

     Ash’s mother had always made sure to remind her daughters that there was more to that side of their heritage than just violence, however. She told them of the human’s ability to adapt, and their bravery as they ventured out into the unknown reaches of the universe.

Because of the stories she had been told growing up, Ash was secretly proud of her ancestry, although she knew it was a thing she could never admit.

     She had barely closed the front door behind herself before she was ambushed by a slightly frantic Nisha. 

     “You have to learn to answer your PCI!” The younger girl sprang forward and swatted at Ash, before grabbing her wrists and looking her up and down. “Are you all right? It’s been all over the Network! Ugh, you’re covered in gross stuff!”

     In hindsight, Ash should have expected the event at the Furnace would have already been receiving news coverage. “I’m fine. But Piper’s dead.”

     Nisha pressed her lips together for a moment, her shoulders going tense. It was only then that Ash fully realized the words she had spoken to cavalierly.

     Piper was dead. Ash would have to return to work the next day without her friend and companion beside her. They would never speak again, or laugh again. She would have to train someone new, and eventually everyone would move on as though Piper had never existed.

     “What happened, Ash?” Nisha’s voice was small and scared.

     Ash shook off her darkening thoughts, taking her sister by the hand and guiding her over to the couch. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer when you called. You know I block all channels except work communications during my shift. I guess I forgot to turn it back on again.”

     Gingerly, Nisha removed one of Ash’s gloves, revealing the communicator strapped around her wrist. She fiddled with the settings until until the flashing light blinked on, indicating unread messages.

     “You called me seven times?”

     “Well, if you had answered I would have stopped calling!” Nisha let Ash’s hand go. “Now tell me.”

     Ash sighed as the realization sunk in that she would have to tell this story to each new family member as they arrived home. “Fine. There was some kind of attack on the Furnace today. It was crazy, Nish. First the evacuation alarm went off –“

     “The one that never goes off?”

     “Yes. And then everyone just started panicking and running for the exits.  Piper grabbed my hand and we started running, and then there was this massive explosion and Piper and I were knocked to the ground, and I guess…” She faltered, trying to get the image of Piper’s dead eyes out of her head. “I guess she hit her head when she was thrown back because I looked up and she was gone. I was one of the last ones out, and I saw people flying around with jetpacks setting charges to the console. I threw a wrench at one of them, and then just took off out of there.” Ash’s voice went quiet as she added, “I had to leave her, Nish. I couldn’t have carried her out of the shaft by myself.”

     Nisha’s smaller hand wrapped around Ash’s grime-covered arm. “I’m glad it was Piper and not you.”

     Wide-eyed, Ash pulled back at the bluntness of that statement. “That’s an awful thing to say!”

     “Well it’s true!” she shot back. “Piper was nice, but you are my family. Aren’t I supposed to be honest?”

     “That’s what they say, but it’s not really true.” Ash paused, then leaned back in to give her a one armed hug around the shoulders. “I’m glad it wasn’t me, either,” she whispered in Nisha’s ear.

     “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. Now please go change. You’re making my clothes all dirty.”

     The story had to be told four more times – first to Ash’s mother, then her twin brothers, next to her grandmother, and finally when her father and grandfather arrived home at the end of the day. 

     The explosion at the Furnace was all anyone had talked about as soon as it had been broadcast on the Network, so naturally they all wanted to know if Ash had any insight as to what or who had caused it, and why it had happened. After telling them all she knew, Ash excused herself to the room she shared with Nisha soon after dinner to avoid seeing the footage that kept playing over and over.

More specifically to avoid the stat they they repeating: 23 dead, 11 injured.

     She could have been among that group. Just a statistic; just a number without a name or a face. 

     In the end, Ash realized she must have fallen asleep due to sheer exhaustion, because the next thing she knew, the beeping of an incoming message from her PCI was waking her from dreams of fire and sneering faces with bright, glowing blue eyes and white, pointed teeth.

     Jolting out of sleep, panic gripped Ash as she feared she had overslept and was late for her shift. But one glance out the window showed that the morning street lights had not been fully turned on yet.

     Ash’s fingers felt clumsy as she pulled up the notification, her eyes blurring with sleep as she began to read. It was just text with no voice attachment.

     “Date: 63.5299. Name: Ora, Asheena. Position: Mechanic #95253. Status: Terminated, effective immediately. Notes: Your final paycheck will be processed and wired to your account on the date 64.5299. We thank you for your service and wish you luck in all your future endeavors.”