The Moment of Combustion (Story) (Patreon)

Hey, I've got the April story done now. This piece references the narrator for the the anthology I edited with Slip Wolf, Dissident Signals. I've always wondered what her story would entail, so I wrote a little something about how I envision she began her journey. Slip probably has his own vision of her journey. We never discussed what her name was, so I just call her The Dissident. Perhaps someday I'll tell more of her journey.

Few of the world's ills go away without actively being fought against. Sometimes all that is needed is a little spark to light a fire inside of someone that will change the world around them.

“Why is it broken?”

Chaz looked up from his book at the striped hyena who stood before him, clutching a small tablet. Her clothing was worn and old, but was the only thing he had that fit her when she’d come to stay with him. The pained expression on her muzzle, though, was what drew his attention. “What is broken?” he asked her.

“Everything,” she replied.

“Everything is quite a broad term, don’t you think? Can you be more specific?” he replied, putting the book down.

“The world is broken. I’ve wanted for so long to not believe it is, but now I can see for myself it is. Why is the world broken?”

Chaz opened his muzzle and closed it. He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure I’d say the entire world is broke—”

She waved her arms around frantically. “Yes, it is! Look at this mess. You can’t tell me this is the way it should be. We live on scraps while they get to live like kings above us.”

He looked out the window at the city beyond, and the scars of years of neglect it now bore. It used to be a good place, but slowly it was falling apart and no one seemed to care. The rich had their paradise, and they’d left the rest of the population to suffer. “No, I can’t, but there are still good things in this world. You have to find your hope for a better future.”

“By sitting around doing nothing?”

The fox blinked, looking at the striped hyena and the way she stood with determination and resolve. Her body had a coiled energy ready to release. “What’s got into you?” he asked cautiously.

The hyena’s ears lowered. “A couple things, but most of all I miss them.”

“Your parents?”

She nodded. “It’s been three months, but it feels like yesterday. The accident took everything from me. I used to think it was bad, but it would be okay. Now I don’t even have that.”

“It might get easier with time, but it will likely always hurt. We keep the people we’ve lost with us,” said the fox, tapping his chest. “They’re always with us as long as we remember them.” He closed his eyes and felt the tears forming. “It helps with pain.”

“I know, you suffered just like I have, but why are we sitting here doing nothing? They took from you what you most loved with their callous disregard for life.”

The fox opened his eyes and blinked, trying to clear the tears. “What can we do? We’re down here and they’re up there, far beyond our reach.”

“We can’t be the only people the corporations have robbed like this. There have to be others. Others angry like us. Others looking to get even.”

“I’m sure,” said Chaz, “but why are you thinking about this now?”

“I know the truth now. Here, see for yourself,” she said, thrusting the tablet into his paws. “They’re refusing to admit that the fire in the housing block I lived in was even their fault. They’re saying it was caused by illegal modifications made by tenants to the electrical system. I know people were constantly having to fix things themselves but that’s only because the owners refused to do any repairs!”

Chaz took the tablet at the tablet and read the article on the screen. As he did, his hackles rose. “Was there a building inspection?”

“Not that I can recall. You’d email them there was a leak and maybe in a week someone would come out to look at it. In the meantime, you had water spilling into your apartment.”

“The courts will work it out, eventually.”

“Only after they get tired of fighting it. Then they’ll offer some token sum for the inconvenience they caused and move on. They’re never going to admit fault, and who knows how many of their other buildings they’re neglecting,” she said. “All we are is dollar signs to them. They want to put the minimum amount of effort in to get the maximum amount of profit out.”

“That’s why we have laws.”

“That is why we have laws, and that’s why the corporations circumvent enforcement and legislation by buying our politicians. They’ve been doing it for decades now honestly.”

Chaz sighed. “I know, but you need to focus on what you can change. You need to deal with what you can deal with. We can’t change the laws.”

“Why not?” the hyena asked.

The fox frowned. “It takes power, and we’re just little people. They ignore people like us.”

He ears fell and then shot back up. “No, this is where you’re wrong. We can make them listen.”

“How? They’re all in the colonies now. We’re part of those left behind to run their machines while they drink to their profits in their glass towers.”

“There are ways to get their attention to let them know we still matter. The first thing we do might not work, but we’ll find something that does.”

Chaz didn’t say anything but looked at the striped hyena. She had her lips pulled back to show her fangs. “That is a long road, and one that is full of disappointment. You’ll need to be ready to hit a lot of brick walls.”

She leaned forward, so she could get close to him. “Do you think that’s going to stop me?” she said, ice in her voice. “I’m not going to let them win.”

In that moment Chaz felt his pulse pounding in his ears and her breath on his fur. She’d gone from being his friend in that moment to something else he didn’t understand yet. She had become something far more dangerous than just fangs and claws. “What are you going to do about it?”

“We start small, and grow bigger. We’re going to hit them where it hurts. They need us to keep sending them goods and services, but we don’t need them. It’s time we show them that. Are you in, or are you out?”

“I’ve you’ve got a plan, I’m in.”

She smiled, fangs showing. “I think I do.”