Athel Read Online Free PDF Page B

resources!” someone shouts.
    “That’s
why we’re going to attack the Gaijins,” a woman replies.
    “It’s a
catch-22!”
    “I’ve got
the weapon that will win this war,” Hennessy shouts, his voice louder than
anyone else’s. The congregation falls silent. For a moment, I can hear the
crickets again, chirping in unison from the solar fields.
    “I will
show it to you,” Hennessy continues, drawing a circle in the air with his right
hand. He steps forward and paces around the fire, his features widened and
distorted by the smoke and light from the flames. “I designed the weapon myself
and installed it on my son. This weapon, my friends, will make us powerful. It
will make us invincible.” At Tahari’s nod of approval, Hennessy turns to his
son Yuri and motions for him to come forward.
    “I’m
asking everyone to please step back and make room for a quick demonstration.”
    “This is
going to be fun,” I mutter to Wes, though deep inside I’m jealous. Yuri is
suddenly getting the spotlight I’ve wanted from the beginning, and the defeat
we suffered this morning as the droid walked away with just a few skewed panels
on its back hurts even more.
    We follow
the crowd to the edge of the clearing surrounding the Tower and make room for
Yuri to show us his gig. Wes and I settle on the containment wall a few feet
away from the north entrance, and Lukas joins us a few minutes later.
    “I’m dying
to see this!” he says, his face still flushed from fiddling.
    “Sure you
are,” I reply, sarcasm dripping from every word. “Maybe you can learn
something, too.”
    He hops
onto the wall next to Wes and scowls at me. “You wouldn’t have even thought of
a Trojan horse, let alone made it work.”
    I look
away and say nothing because I know he’s right.
    Under
Tahari’s directions, the crowd splits into two groups, leaving a corridor
running between the Tower and the riverbank. Yuri and his father stand in the
middle, their legs spread in a military stance. Hennessy points to a big boulder
about twenty feet away and asks people to move away from it.
    “Really?”
Wes hisses. “He’s gonna shoot a rock?”
    “Not a lot
of stuff can penetrate a rock,” Lukas says.
    “Unless
it’s tuft,” I retort.
    “You’re
just jealous,” Wes says.
    Right, again,
so I keep my mouth shut.
    Hennessy
waves his hand in the air and nods to his son. Metal Jaw grins. He balls his
fists and raises his arms, knuckles pointed at the rock. Four flaps lift from
the knuckles of each hand, and four gun muzzles—about five millimeters
each in diameter—emerge from underneath the flaps.
    “Go!”
Hennessy shouts.
    We all
hold our breaths and stare. Red beams flash out of the muzzles and dive into
the rock, digging a black hole into the boulder. Smoke curls up from the hole
but nothing else seems to be happening. Yuri doesn’t move.
    “What was
that supposed to mean?” I say, but Lukas quickly shushes me and points to the
boulder. A tiny red light twinkles in the middle of the black hole. It grows
bigger and bigger and, about ten seconds after Yuri’s fire, the boulder
explodes into a million pieces. We all duck. Some run, others scream. When we
raise our heads again, the boulder is gone. Like, completely gone, leaving only a ring of shards scattered around a
smoking pit.
    People
clap their hands and voice their amazement. Hennessy and Yuri exchange a high
five.
    I hate
that kid. What he did to my sister is heinous. And now he’s got the most
powerful weapon any Mayake has ever possessed. Somehow the idea doesn’t thrill
me at all.
    “Why the
long delay?” Akari, Lukas’s uncle, asks. He’s standing at the end of the wall
we’ve been sitting on and looks straight into Hennessy’s eyes. “You showed us
power, yes. But those few seconds of delay can be deadly in war. It takes two
seconds for a droid to squash you to death.”
    I gulp and
rub my sore ribs, where the droid squeezed me only hours ago.
    Hennessy
smiles his