… Once we got down to the pier Mickey found the zode that Holly had left there when she got in from Albatross the night before. I checked the fuel while he cast off. It started up smooth enough and once we got out into the open water we’d picked up enough speed that it felt nice. We could see Parakeet in the distance, a little dot of an island. The radio tower that Davy had put up just before the winter stuck up over the treeline, with this big flag waving from it. He found an old state flag and painted something on it. I don’t know what; I just heard about it from Mickey, who said it was ‘something with a dick on it’, as if I hadn’t heard or seen anything worse. We picked up a bit of chop about halfway to the island and looking behind us we could see the thunderclouds start to roll in over town. …
Author Archives: James Knevitt
Kemet and Kush
… Kemet and Kush are at peace now, brought together by the gods as a lasting union. The last war was pretty awful. It’s the first time that they’ve really had full armies go at each other, guns blazing. I saw action fighting for Kush, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the color of my skin. That was a while ago, though. Now, I’m a lawman in the new western frontier. A Scarab, they call us, because of the badge we wear. We’re technically appointed by the temples, which is why you get Scarabs who sometimes have silver badges, or obsidian badges, or whatever. Different temples, different gods, same job. You make your glyph on the papers, you get issued your badge and your Khepet .45, and off you go. …
Departure
The line at the airport Starbucks is a serpentine beast thirsting for consumer gratification. The Sierra Leonean immigrants slinging foam try to keep up, the espresso machines far more complicated than the AK-47s and machetes of their forebears. The woman in front of me flicks back her dark hair. She smells like watermelon. I see …