The Juniper Spider

By Rei Rosenquist

Chip builds mechs called spider suits to collect junk in a ravanged land. The machines look tough, but they aren't. The violent Juniper gang rules the streets. Spider riders keep away. But one day, the inevitable.
A Juniper catches a spider suit.
Can't run and hide.
What will Chip do?
Try and fight? Or, expose the secret they harbor in an attempt to survive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rei Rosenquist
• Release date: May 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201608026

Rei Rosenquist

Rei Rosenquist first remembers life as seen out the high window of a hotel balcony. Down below is a courtyard, swarms of brightly dressed tourists, the beach. The memory is nothing but a blue-green washed image. Warmth and sunlight. Here, they are three years old, and this is the beginning of a nomadic story-teller’s life. Over the years, they have traveled to many countries, engaged many peoples, picked up new habits, and learned new languages. But, some things never change. For them, these are stories, food service, and traveling. These three passions have bloomed from hobbies, studies, and jobs into a way of life. These days, Rei can be found in between Tokyo, Kailua, and Bellingham, Washington pouring beautiful latte art, baking off a batch of famous savory scones, and cozying up with a laptop to obsessively write mountains of dark speculative fiction. You can find Rei’s stories and blog at reirosenquist.com. You can also reach them via email at [e-mail] or connect via Facebook (Rei Rosenquist), Twitter (rylrosenquist) and Instagram (rylrosenquist).

Book preview

ONE

I grew up in a camp built for refugees from a war I never knew. The same for the country I was supposedly rescued from. For me, it was all camp, all the time. These busted hovels and broken roads were my home. Thanks to my Cha-cha, I learned quick to navigate the treacheries of this place. Learn or die, that was camp life.

I started out driving spiders across already looted land.

Spider was just a term I made up for big robotic collectors my Cha-cha taught me to build. Sounds fancy; it wasn't. Cha-cha was an engineer, so there was a lot of machine-making gear in the junk lot we called our back yard. The things I could solder and bolt together looked tough: big bulky machines with a high throne-like seats and loads of levers. Clanking self-driven hydraulic beasts that lumbered around on thick legs and kicked up dust as they hissed and roared around camp. They were built to entertain, not to last. Hit one too hard in the wrong spot, and the whole teetering thing went clank-pop and came all apart.

The suits all ran on cheap, outdated s-pads and g-pads that I pilfered from junkyard trash stashes. The kinds of devices with touchscreens and bleep-bleep alert chimes, long forgotten when the age of technology caved in on humanity. I slapped the levers and drive controls together from spare parts.

Old and janky as it all was, programming the spiders was a snap. Cha-cha taught me all the basic codes, plus some. Old world stuff from before the wars and before my La-la died in an explosion. Coding languages, Cha-cha always said, were so complex a brain could get lost in them. So, I did.

I made a pack of spiders and convinced my local scabby friends to ride around in them with me. We called ourselves a gang, but it meant nothing. Tinkering was all it was. Passing time. Forgetting how yuck the world was. Spiders were good for scavenging, wasting time and making fun. But no one ever turned emotional about what they had, got defensive, or stood ground. We just roved around picking random shit up.

Years melted away like that. Cha-cha got older. The spider-riders became my real actual friends. And everything seemed kinda okay.

Then. Cha-cha got sick like all the 30-something adults did.

Cha-cha, I said, pulling up to the disgusting cot where he lay oozing from too many sores.

Ai, Chipa, Cha-cha said, trying to sound like not-dying.

If-then-when you phase out— I began.

Cha-cha chuckled and wheezed. Talking in coding instead of Common, nah?

I nodded. By then, everything in my head was all if/then/when statements.