Lisa Eskra - Astra: Synchronicity (Volume 1)

by

Lisa Eskra

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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Astra: Synchronicity

Copyright 2010 Lisa Eskra

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of theauthor's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance topersons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations isentirely coincidental.

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For Michael

Without his ever-loving persistence, thisstory never would have been written.

"The future enters into us, in order totransform itself in us, long before it happens." Rainer MariaRilke

A strident crash startled her awake, and whenshe slammed into icy tile, she realized she wasn't dreaming.

Before she could scream, her head struck thefloor with a thump, violently jarring her eyes open and forcing herinto a world she was not yet ready to handle. Under her naked body,a steel table stuck out at an oblique angle, its warped hingeshaving buckled from the strain of her weight. She searched hermemory for any recollection of the recent past but came up blank,and a renewed sense of panic trapped the breath in her lungs.

Her heartbeat surged as she pulled herself toher feet. No windows broke the monotony of the featureless wallsaround her. The sweet scent of ether permeated the air, and theflicker of jade monitors imparted an eerie sense of familiarity.Yet she remembered nothing of this place.

A single lab coat hung on an array of hooksmounted near the door. She slipped it on and browsed an assortmentof electronic tools arranged by size on a workbench. Looking forsome clue regarding her whereabouts, she picked one upa sapphireblade with hooked flange. A connectorization cleaver. She wouldn'tbe repairing fiber optics anytime soon but stashed it in her pocketanyway.

Amidst the high-pitched whine of the archaicinstrumentation, she noticed her reflection on a glossy monitornext to her. Her light hair had an asymmetric cut: a blunt bob thatended at her ear on the left and brushed her shoulder on the right.The angle she stood at made her look sickly thin. And it struck herthat she'd just set eyes upon a stranger.

Before she had a chance to access a nearbyworkstation for answers, thunder shook the small room. She spun herhead towards the door while the floor quaked from another. Louder.Closer. Jars on the counter rattled from the booms. A monitorwinked out. The blast pattern sounded too regular to be natural. Ifthis was an attack, she needed to escape.

She cracked the door open and peered out.Only the faint outline of darkened doorways greeted her. As shestruggled toward an exit somewhere on the north wall, tremorscontinued to rock the building. She passed by several rooms filledwith equipment but saw no one else around.

When she reached the exterior door, anexplosion sounded outside. She dove for cover just before the glassfrom a window behind her shattered. The debris cut her back, butshe had no time to cower in fear. With a deep breath to fight offthe lingering pain, she opened the door wide enough to slip outsideand sprinted away.

A flood of daylight blinded her until hereyes adjusted. Shafts of crimson sunlight inundated the blackleaves of the jungle, which fought to absorb every ray thattrickled through the canopy. Although the sun consumed most of thesouthern sky, few ribbons of light pierced the verdancy, impartingairs of a nocturnal forest at sunset.

As she fled the scene, she heard muffledvoices in the distance. They seemed to be looking for someone. Inher hasty flight, she stumbled over sharp branches and jagged rockshidden under decaying leaves and fungus. Vines lashed her arms andface while she scrambled through the undergrowth, the cumulativepain building with each step. Her feet ached and throbbed, but sheground her teeth and pressed on toward civilization.

The halo of a nearby city beaconed from theeast. That would be her sanctuary. Kivara glowed in the distancefrom its irradiated smog, and despite its unsavory atmosphere, shedidn't stop until she reached it. Her athletic body covered thedistance with the endurance of a cross-country runner. The trekcouldn't have been more than a few kilometers; the fear wore herdown more than the run.

Many regarded Kivara as hell lit by neon.Formerly an old industrial city, Kivara had become the drug capitalof Astra. The air was so thick with pollutants on bad days toxinschoked out the sun. Street gangs had ruled the whole planet for thelast century, transforming a once benevolent colony into anarchy,and drug trade fueled their ongoing wars. Signs everywheredisplayed an exotic tribal emblemthe symbol of the East RimSouljas, the dominant gang.

I've walked these streets before, shethought as she gazed at the geodesic domes littering the crumblingmetropolis. It was the capital of Pisa, second planet in orbit ofShambhala. The only disputed system in Astra, a collection ofplanetary systems inhabited by humanity. The known galaxy.

She hugged the shadows and tried to concealthe brightness of her coat while she crept through the city. Thegangs patrolled the streets with ruthless pride. Whenever she heardthe distant rumble of bikes, she hid and let them pass. Sometimesas many as a dozen blazed past, all carrying on in manic delightlike they were high. She was surprised the chemical fumes didn'thave the same effect on her.

When she reached an empty lot, she frowned.Remnants of foundation grew out of broken concrete leaving fouracres of empty space without cover. She jogged across and gothalfway before a pair of bikes growled behind her. When she heardthem, she tried to take shelter behind a towering steel beam. Herpulse almost drowned out their approach.

For a moment she thought she'd fooled them,but their engines bellowed when they sped toward her in pursuit.She bolted down the closest alleyway in sight and realized she'derred. It came to an abrupt end, blocked off on all three sides bysheer walls. She searched for any avenue of escapea door, aladder. Nothing.

The bikes circled around and obstructed herroute back before the men dismounted their dusty machines andadvanced toward her. If she tried to run, there was a good chanceshe'd be gunned down. If she didn't, she'd be at their mercy. On aworld with no laws, death provided a merciful alternative to livingunder gang rule.

One of them backed her into a corner, and sheknelt to keep as much distance between them as possible. His bootbuckles rattled as he walked. A swarm of dark dreadlocks hungaround his face. Grime and dried sweat covered his dark clothes.The faint odor of rancid urine seared her nose. He rested his handson his hips and looked her over with care.

"Please don't hurt me." She raised her handsin an act of innocence. "Please"

"Well, well. Ain't you a beauty" When hespoke, his breath reeked of rotting garlic. He nodded to the manbehind him. "Look, SinkissI think I'm in love."

His companion towered over his shoulder. Afringe of ginger hair ringed half of his scalp and the rest wasbald. A pair of dark goggles rested on his crown. "You think she'sclaimed? She branded anywhere?"

"Who cares? Nobody got to know." He unbuckledhis oversized belt and jingled it in her direction. "You wantseconds?"