He had one chance. He ripped open his oxygen tank, letting pure O₂ flood the alley. The Qackperps, drawn to pressure differentials, swarmed the leak. Their qack-perp chorus became a frantic qack-qack-qack as they overfed.
The Dome elders called him a demon for dealing with the Qackperps. But the sick lined up anyway. Kael became the first , a boy who traded in the only currency that mattered: a single perp that meant life, not death.
Seventeen-year-old was a "Rust Rat," a scavenger who snuck outside the Dome’s scrubber fields to hunt for pre-Collapse tech. He wasn’t brave; he was desperate. His sister, Jenna , had the Slow Lung, and the Dome’s meds were rationed for the rich.