“Just because I am no longer able to correct you, Oliver, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to avoid swearing. Also, I would like to note the phrase ‘Save Cindy and Betty Sue’ is now trending on multiple social media platforms. I do not know if you are winning hearts and minds, but the livestock of New Sonora certainly is.”
Your drop ship is arriving soon. The location is marked on your map.
It would be landing on the main road just outside of Rosita’s property. I started moving in the direction.
Chapter 47
We ended the song, and we paused for more of Rosita’s documentary to play.
“Good job, man. You nailed it!” Sam shouted in my ear. “Tito fucked up his second solo, though.”
As we waited, I clicked on “Virtual Pass-through” on my helmet, and I took a look around. Rosita was off to the side, fiddling with the big camera. Lulu stood in front of the microphone, smoking a cigarette, shouting her head off, still hurling insults. Tito and Axel were tuning. Sam was watching the feed monitor, which was showing the late Mr.Yanez getting interviewed by Rosita.
I turned my attention to the other monitor, which was showing the wall. All the people were now gone. The wall had dozens of holes in it. The flamethrower, which was now being controlled by honeybees, was finally getting to work, which meant there were now mechs right in front of the base. Still, missiles continued to fire back and forth. Our own mortars, now being fired by honeybees, continued to pound in the distance.
I wished there was a good shot of the stage with the spotlights twirling all around us just casually sitting up there while missiles and pulse blasts rained.
Sam tapped my shoulder. “I think we only got time for a few more,” he said.
I nodded and started counting on the hi-hat. This sort of beat was supposed to be simple for most drummers, but for some reason, I always had an issue with it. This song was one Lulu and I had written together a long time ago. It was called “Pear Juice,” and it started with just me. The whole song was about five minutes long.
I couldn’t see my sister, but I could hear it in her voice. It was a silly, dumb song, yet she sobbed as she angrily introduced it.
Please enter the drop ship now. Transit time to dock: approximately 13 minutes.
“Here we go,” I said as I started to play.
—
I entered the drop ship,and I held my breath as the grasping arms clutched onto me with a loud clank. The mech shuddered as I played the song.
Please wait.
And then we were off, rising into the night air, spinning like a top as we rapidly rose. This was a smaller, faster, and more specialized ship designed specifically for this exact thing: ferrying individual units back and down from the ship.
I tried to see if I could see the farm through the smoke, but there was nothing except the occasional flash of light indicating an explosion here or there. Even though the enemy was clearly on the verge of completely overrunning the camp, the command chat was awash with stories about the chaos being wrought by Roger on Earth. People, scared, were leaving their mechs abandoned on the field by the dozens, while others continued to press the attack as thefarm, my home, was utterly decimated by the invading war machines.
At any moment, the entire stage would fall.
The song ended.
“No break. No break. Next song!” Sam shouted in my ear.
I didn’t think. I just went into the next song. I hit the crash and started thetsk, tsk, tskon the hi-hat that indicated we were going into “Tito Got Your Goat.”
…And just as we started, I realized that the song basically started with a drum solo—a solo I hadn’t really practiced in months.
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered under my breath as I went to work on my snare.
We rose, and we rose, entering orbit as I finished the solo, and we moved into the song.
“I just want you to know, across all channels, approximately fifty million people just watched that drum solo, Oliver,” Roger said.
“Song’s not done yet,” I said, gritting my teeth.
We turned, and we suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion, but in reality, we were now far above the planet, and we were approaching thePinnacle. We’d be docked in a minute. I moved my attention back to the command chat.
WickedTalon:Hey, I knew it! I fucking knew it! Did you see that flicker! They’re not really on that stage. They’re live-projecting from somewhere. They’re using a hologram system!
