I swear I not look down, but course I do, so the thwap-thwap of vom hits the ground. I hear it even all up here.
“Ew gross no. Nah. I’m gon’ drop you,” Corva crows. “You da grossest ew.”
She don’t drop me. She never did, and I done a vom every time we fly cuz I hate heights. And dis the stupidest job ever, except it super important, so I do it.
We fly over big trees, then smaller new ones planted by growbots what we found and fixed up like two gens back. We use dem for dis, and also for clean-up after I boom.
“Here?” I say, loud so Corva can hear. A couple of small buildings here under us, ones not boomed out yet.
“Soon. Licit and Espy say go more inner, it important. Don’t get hot yet. I say when.”
Licit and Espy do plans, because Licit got age and Espy can do memory forever. It their mod-gifts. I’m good with my mod. Boom is more fun than rememberizing.
“Why not these tho?”
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Corva wings go flap-flap and she turns a little on a warm wind. “I din’t ask. Maybe place to put things, growbots? Not my ting, question. OK, we close. Dat one dere. You see?”
Big building. “I see. You ready?”
“Ow. Nah. Not yet. Wait. You get too hot too quick ow.”
Corva just bitching. All fine, I never burn her claws.
“OK. Three, two, go!”
I feel vom rise, but a fireball can’t vom, so nothing come out and I hit the side of the big building and go boom.
A fireball can’t die nothing like people neither, so the building come down all around me and I just burn.
*****
We do five more dat day, what Licit calls an old city block, boom-boom, take dem all down. Clear dat land. Growbots the only useful thing from oldie days, and dey go putting trees in the ground so we have nut and fruit and places under to sleep.
Boom-boom five times but then we too hungry because it a lot to keep firing up boom, and for Corva to carry me all over, so we go home and zzz.
*****
We back under home trees. Corva say she cold so I warm up a little and she say thanks. Others around say thanks, too, makes me happy.
“Dis a good power. You. So toast.”
“Like those oldie buildings, dey toast.”
“Ha! Such good booms today, we really nail it. Pew boom!” Corva hands fly wild, like her wings when she bird.
“Better than doing all maps and planning things. I couldn’t think dat.” I cool down little, so don’t forest fire. “Or, also, don’t want to do mod like Ferda. Dat bad mod.”
“Nah, no. I like Ferda mod. Shit rainbow is cool. Makes the world go better, pretty.”
Corva curl up, and put her head down, and conk. And I guess maybe dat true before I go to sleep.
*****
We fly deep inner next day. Licit tell Corva where. I do vom and it thwap-thwap and Corva say she gonna to drop me but she never do.
We stop two time for Corva to eat, because I’m just fire but also a person and heavy. Even though she a big bird, it a lot to carry. We go far inner and I don’t know these buildings at all, but Licit tell Corva it important. Dey gotta go boom, we need take back the land. Empty oldie life buildings, bad space.
Corva say we try new thing. Boom here, then keep going a couple days inner, no home. “Licit want more fast.”
“Why?”
“She say progress. I say OK.”
“OK, but why?”
“We good at it. We da bestest.”
“We da onlyest.”
“Fun ha! Ready? Drop you in three, two …”
I boom a building, then another, then we stop for snack and watch as dey crumble to the ground and fires go. The plants want to grow over all, we just help it go faster. Clear bad oldie places for us.
Corva points at two big-big buildings aways away.
“You think you can boom dat?”
Dey big-big. Bigger than buildings before. Shiny.
I shrug.
“Maybe. Can try. Maybe need a couple of hits, but dat scary.” We try dat before, but I got hurt because I become me after boom, and human-me get hurt. Fireball-me safer, but Corva can’t touch fireball-me for rescue.
“Eat a lot. We try big-big boom.”
*****
We fly. I try hard to not vom because it help big boom to have bellyfull.
We close, and then something move in the shiny big-big building.
