The Apex Book of World SF 2 (44 page)

He hit the ground,
the impact deflating the balloons inside his chest.
Oh, no. God, please no.
The uterus is broken.
He could feel the liquid spilled over him, flowing
inside his open wounds. He embraced the vial with all the strength he had left.
Tick-tock, tick-tock
. He lay between the wall and the two fallen aetherfoam
cylinders. He saw Chaya being shot four times in the back while trying to run
to him. He saw the seeds in her eyes wither and die before she fell. Emilio and
his soldiers were almost on him.

He made his
decision.

Tick-tock,
tick-tock, tick-tock.

He drew his gun and
fired it off at the cylinders. There was a blast and a glaring radiance like a
star.

Silence.

Tick.

 

On occasion, a
mortar. A dull machine gun talking in the distance was his only companion.
Fritz climbed the stairs of an abandoned building at the heart of a deserted
neighbourhood. The carbine had been turned into a crutch to keep his body
straight. Each step needed more than the strength he had left in him. It was
martyrdom. His body cracked, his joints creaked and he limped. His body was
bent to one side, the cables that served as tendons were shattered. He could
barely reach the crank in his back to wind himself up. He missed Chaya so
badly. He had no clue as to what to think of Emilio.

 

The motolang dragged
himself across the corridor to the room, his new home since the explosion back
in the lab. The war was very distant now and would soon be over. He had turned
from militiamen to refugee in the space of just two months, hiding as he could
amongst the ruins of the revolution.
It'll have to do for now.
He felt
bad.

There was a rocking
chair close to the window. The reactor was framed in it, and high above, he
could see an aethership docking at the station. He still had no way of
escaping. He had no money for the tickets and the bribes. Besides, the trip was
too dangerous these days. Maybe in a few more months.

He tried to relax,
rocking on the chair, the carbine over his lap. Roots and wires sprouted up
from the cracks in his carcass. The place wasn't exactly
home
, but he
felt somewhat happy. Now there was another tick-tock inside him, a seed. In a
glass vial embedded in his belly, he and Chaya shone together the way only
impossible things are likely to shine.

 

Editor Biography

 

Lavie Tidhar is the author of
the BSFA Award nominated novel
Osama
(2011), and of the steampunk
Bookman Histories trilogy, comprising
The Bookman
(2010),
Camera
Obscura
(2011), and
The Great Game
(2012). His other works include
the linked story collection
HebrewPunk
(2007), novellas
An Occupation
of Angels
(2005),
Cloud Permutations
(2010),
Jesus & the
Eightfold Path
(2011), and
Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God
(2011). He
is also the author of the picture book
Going to the Moon
(2012). He
edited the first volume of this anthology series,
The Apex Book of World SF
(2009) and maintains the World SF Blog at worldsf.wordpress.com, for which he
was nominated for a World Fantasy Award.

 

 

Artist Biography

 

Born in Mexico City, cover
artist Raứl Cruz first put colors to paper at a young age when television
and films inspired him to create his first fantasy illustrations. At the age of
twenty, Raứl began a successful and prosperous freelance career, creating
science fiction and commercial artwork for books, magazines, CD booklets, posters,
ads, set designs, booth designs, television concepts, and more.

 

 

Raứl uses a combination
of digital and traditional techniques (particularly watercolor, acrylic, ink
and airbrush) to create a signature look that defines his style. His art has
been exhibited in New York City's Stehendall Gallery, in the Mexican Chamber of
Plasticity, in numerous cultural spaces and events, and in different
universities. Many of his pieces have also appeared in publications like
Illustrators 39
,
Spectrum
,
Heavy Metal Magazine
,
Fantasy +3
, and
Erotic Fantasy
Art
.

 

 

To see more of his art and designs visit www.racrufi.com.