by Paul Harm
When they left the apartment, they turned back and looked in awe at the life they were getting away from. Even though both of them worried about Mia for a second, they did not dare to speak of it and decided to not trouble each other in addition to what was already going on. Good bye, well settled affairs, goodbye comfortable bed and predictable days. Good bye, safe life because they both were pretty sure there would not be a coming back from whatever it was they are into now. They stood there for a couple of minutes, memories running through their minds. Joseph and Claire sighed almost at the same moment, they were ready to leave it all behind. “Well let’s go.” Claire’s voice was filled with determination. And thus, Joseph knew that whatever this was and whatever they are heading for, he was not alone in it anymore and by the tone of Claire’s voice she was determined to see this through until the end. - Scary and beautiful that woman, no wonder I love her. - Joseph thought.
They left the building with two rather big backpacks and headed for the cascade system. When they arrived at entry K17 Akachi was standing there. Joseph wasn’t surprised to see him, his instructions had been so vague of course he was coming along too. “Hello Joseph, you’ve brought reinforcements already?” He laughed. “Can I help you Sir?” Claire was not in the mood for joking. “Yes, Claire is accompanying me.” “Well, well, well I did plan for such an event. Here I’ve something you might need.” He reached in a big brown bag he had swung around his shoulders and gave each of them a bundle of communicators. They had little notes on them. “What’s this?” Joseph asked as he hurried to put them into his jacket. “Those are one time use communicators for emergencies. One of them you’ll use for the Cascade System and the others you might need on your way. There’s something else.” Akachi reached in his pocket and gave each of them a little metal shell with an odd entry something you can plug into a machine of some sort. “This is a memory unit.” Akachi started to explain. “But we can use the communicators for that.” Claire mumbled shaking her head in disbelief. “Yes, you can, but maybe you find something that hasn’t been connected to the communicator system, in which case you might need that memory unit.” Claire looked puzzledly at Joseph. “Fine.” She finally agreed but Joseph knew all of this bothered her. She does not like to be left in the dark about things. “I understand you’re skeptical.” Akachi responded in his low and calm voice. “But we have no time to explain everything, your moving on fast is crucial for the outcome to this endeavor. If you’re truly stuck, you can contact me with the one time use communicators.” Claire did not care for his words a lot but accepted them for now. “Your route is on the first note, use the communicators like described on the notes. Your traffic to cascade exit 74 has been carefully planned. The first communicators are from people who use those routes on a regular basis and thus shouldn’t attract much attention. I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you for now.” “Fair enough. So, we’re going far.” Joseph grabbed the first communicator. “Oxford. But that’s like the other direction as far as I can tell.” “As I explained already, Joseph, you have to trust me, use the routes as they’re described on the communicators. You’ll be traveling alone but you should arrive at exit 74 approximately no more than a few hours from each other. You understand that if we try to make it hard to attract any attention it’s safer that way, and fortunately we still have plenty of time. A luxury we would lose if our moves should be spotted. I’ll see you another time, Godspeed.”
And just like that Akachi was about to leave when he suddenly turned around. “There’s one last thing I almost forgot.” Akachi stated and with a swift motion he tipped something into his communicator and held it in front of Joseph’s head. “You didn’t implement the chip yet, didn’t you?” Joseph’s eyes widened as he reached into his pocket and held the injection in his hand. Akachi looked at him with a smile, took it and in Joseph’s neck a bright pain paralyzed him for a second and was gone. Akachi did not say anything, got another one out of his backpack and looked at Claire. “You going to need one too.” And as he finished talking the injection needle hit Claire in the neck with the same suddenly appearing and suddenly disappearing pain. “What was that?” “Camouflage, protection from the Psycore’s agents, Joseph will explain it to you later.” Akachi reached one more time into his backpack and pulled out a handful of pens, divided them into two stacks and gave one to Claire and one to Joseph. “In case you need some people undercover as well.” Joseph and Claire took a closer look at the pens and it turned out they hid injection needles just like the ones they just got injected by themselves. Akachi waved them goodbye as he slowly walked away from them.
Claire looked the same amount disturbed and pissed at him for a while until she focused and turned to Joseph who was searching with his fingers for the chip in his neck. “Where’s exit 74 Joseph.” Claire asked lowering her voice. “It’s in Eurasia.” “It’s in Eurasia?!?” Claire shrieked. “Shhh...” Joseph tried to calm her down. “But that’s like on another continent.” “I know we have to take the deep sea Cascade. You know the one that runs below the Lunar Cascade.” “Ok I guess. Well let’s do this. It’s useless to argue over details anyway. Your friend forgot to tell us who’s going to wait for whom though.” “We just wait there if the other one isn’t there yet, alright?” “Alright...” “Where’s your first escape?” Claire reached in her bag and pulled out the first communicator. “Phoenix.” “Ok then, we’ll see each other in approximately a day or two.” “Ok. Godspeed honey.” Claire grabbed him for a fierce kiss. As he enjoyed being kissed like they were seventeen, she released him without warning. Just like she did back then and left him with nothing like the burning desire for more, just like back then. She vanished into the Cascade pod so fast he could not even stop her still being paralyzed by her kiss, and just like that she was gone. “See you there honey.” He whispered.
After Joseph left he reached Oxford, from there he directly got into the sub-oceanic cascade system towards Europe, Tours was his destination this time and it took forever to cross the distance buried under the massive Atlantic Ocean. During the hour under the Atlantic Ocean Joseph was wondering where Claire might be right now, probably she would be somewhere close under the sea. In Tours Joseph got out of his pod happy to have solid ground under his feet again. Even though he was tempted to fall on his knees and kiss it, he felt like that would draw too much attention to him so instead he wandered off towards a café. He ordered a chai latte and pulled another communicator out of his bag. London, well I always wanted to go to London. He drank his chai and left the communicator for the Atlantic crossing at the described location. After the very, very boring underseas he enjoyed a full lookout over Europe on his way to London, this and the recently enjoyed chai latte refreshed him enough to look forward for the city. Although it took a couple of hours and unfortunately included another 20-minute ride under the sea he finally arrived at the Thames cascade exit station. Joseph was tired as hell, but he wanted to get it over with, so he did not waste any time and took out the last communicator. The letter was longer than the ones before.
---
Wait for your companion in a pub called The Cross Keys in Endell street. There is a black bearded barkeeper in the pub. Order two ginger teas and tell him you have been brought by the hand of god. When Claire shows up you finish your tea and head for the district line cascade system and take exit 74, Kingsway.
---
The city map projected by the communicator told Joseph the pub was not that far away, and he was happy to be able to walk for a change. Strolling through the city was a welcome change to his journey so far. As he stood in Endell street he spotted the pub. Above the main entrance two angels were sitting opposite each other holding keys which were crossed. - The Cross Keys, that does make sense. - Joseph thought. The front underneath the two angels was covered in greenery, it looked as if it was from another era. In fact, Joseph was even more astonished when he walked inside. The flair, the interior, even the smell. It was all so different from everything
he had ever seen. Behind the bar there was a man with a dense black beard. Joseph gulped because he was not comfortable speaking the lines the letter told him to. He walked up towards the bar the black bearded man looked at him. “What can I do for you?” He asked in a grim voice while he was mopping the floor. Joseph looked in the man’s black eyes. He took all his courage and looked around and started to speak as he was sure no one was there except the barman. He leaned towards the man. “Two ginger teas please.” “Coming right up.” Joseph looked at him still and he dug deep to come up with the words. The black bearded man noticed it. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Sir?” - Now or never. - “I’ve been brought by the hand of god.” There was a flash of lighting up in the depths of the man’s dark eyes. He leaned close to Joseph’s ear. “Have you, well that’s good.” He gave him a tap on his shoulders which almost made him fall from the bar stool.
The black bearded man turned around brew two ginger teas gave them to Joseph and vanished through a door behind the bar. This guy was fierce, and an uneasiness accompanied this colossus of a man. Joseph sat there not sure what he should think about it. The room was empty he was the only one around as a couple of tourists came through the front door Joseph felt a bit relieved and in the same moment the black bearded man came through the door behind the bar as well. “Hey, we open in a couple of hours. I’m just having a tea with one of my waiters.” He answered friendly but definitively. The new arrivals sniffed and left the pub immediately. “Where were we. Ah yes you mentioned something about being sent by god. That’s a good thing because we’re keeping the keys for rare occasions like this. I suppose you take exit 74 from here on?” “Yes. Yes, I will.” The man reached into his coat and pulled out a box that was wrapped into a piece of paper. He laid it on the bar. “Here is your safe passage and a gift from the hand.” “Thank you.” “You’re welcome Joseph.” - How on Earth does he know my name. - In this moment the doors swung open again and in came Claire relieved to find Joseph in here. “Come in Claire.” The black bearded man roared across the empty bar. “Have a cup of tea to perk you up a bit and then you should leave. The communicators of your last journey should stay here so we can give them back to their rightful owners. Godspeed.” And with that he vanished behind the door leaving the couple some space and a place to charge their batteries for a couple of minutes at least.
“It’s good to see you’re alright Joseph.” He hugged her gently, even though it was just a couple of hours of travelling it was exhausting. But that was not everything. Since they left Salera a strange feeling befell Joseph like a constant unease he decided not to let it get to his head. “I missed you too honey.” They finished their teas while complaining about the very uninspiring journey through the or should I say underneath the Atlantic Ocean. “I think we should open the box now.” Joseph declared when Claire made the last sip of her tea. “I agree.” Claire replied and placed the teacup on the bar. While Joseph unraveled the little box, his mind was going through the possibilities of the actual content of the mysterious box. Is it going to be an old artefact? Or maybe a cryptic riddle? A curse of unspoken magnitude? Or is it going to be a key?
Well it was neither it was just a cubic shaped metal thing, smooth on its side and rather tiny, it easily fit in Joseph’s hand as he inspected it carefully. Claire as well inspected the metallic item thoroughly. “Any idea what this might be?” Claire held the little cubic up and looked on its bottom, which looked exactly like all the other sides. “No clue. A joke maybe?” “They did go through a lot of preparation to play this joke on us though.” Claire endorsed after turning the thing around a couple of times. After ten minutes of poking, talking, gently stroking, a bit of intense pushing and another minute of squeezing Joseph decided that whatever that thing was it was not working. His attention wandered back to the box. He could not find anything interesting in it and was about to toss it away when Claire grabbed the little box. “Look.” She pointed at the bottom of the box. “What?” “There’s something underneath, I think.” She grabbed a toothpick from the bar and pulled at the bottom which moved a bit. As her theory proved to be right the toothpick went in deep into the side of the bottom and with one precise swing she got it loose and a green shimmering emerald revealed itself. “Wow, it’s beautiful!” Joseph said surprised looking over Claire’s shoulders. “Indeed.” The emerald seemed to radiate a light on its own which reflected in Claire’s eyes. As she seemed to be unable to look away the world around her slowly disappeared.
“Hello?” Claire yelled into the void. “Hello?” An echo returned to her. First entirely black the place slowly took form. Claire was surrounded by a strange ambiguous fluid falling from all sides around her. She looked on the ground and found she was standing on nothing. In the distance a green light shimmered faintly. She started to walk towards it. The light grew more intense and powerful as she approached it. When she was there an emerald splinter floated in front of her seemingly calling her name. She tried to grab it but a second before she reached it a hand dug into her shoulder. “What’re you doing here?”, a ghostly voice shouted. The voice seemed to be coming from all around her every syllable came from another direction. The hand on her shoulder turned her around. A woman looked at her, she was radiating in the same green light. Her eyes were pitch black as she floated in mid-air. “You aren’t supposed to be here!” Claire was frightened but she pulled it together. It came closer and stared deep into Claire’s eyes. “Find the door and put the cubic on the opening mechanism. It’s a lock pick for special doors. I’ll guide you there and remember. The white line wants Joseph’s name.” Claire felt the invisible ground underneath her feet, or whatever it was she was standing on, fading away. The green light vanished, and she was screaming as she fell into the pitch-black darkness.
XVIII. The Stars do not Lie
“Claire?” Joseph gently shook her as she laid right in front of the picture on the wall. “Claire hello?” She opened her eyes looking like she awoke from a distant dream. “Wow, what the...” Joseph rose an eyebrow. “Are you ok, honey?” “Yeah, I guess, kind of.” She stood up and sat on the bar stool again. After collecting herself for a moment she looked at Joseph. “The cubic, it’s a key to a door. It seems we have to find it.” “How do you...” “That emerald in the box told me.” She interrupted him. “Oh, I see, it isn’t glowing anymore since you made the connection with it.” “I guess it was a one-way ticket.” She smiled as she looked into the box. A glass-like splitter laid in there nothing emerald like about it no green glowing radiating from it anymore. The barkeeper returned. “May I take the crystal back now?”, he asked grabbing the crystal. “What’s that thing?” Claire looked baffled at him. “It’s a memory splinter, like a voice recorder. Just with memories.” “But who created it and how do you fill this thing with content?” “Questions for another day, my dear.” The black bearded man took the crystal gently out of her hand and left into the other room again.
“We have to get to exit 74, Joseph.” Claire was still baffled, and she was trying to make sense of it, but it just did not make any. “Yes, we can leave now.” Claire grabbed the lock pick and they left the bar towards exit 74. It was located at Kingsway almost around the corner. Claire and Joseph stood in front of yet another carmine brick building. A sign on top of the entry said in big white letters: “London’s First Subway Museum” “What’s a subway?” Joseph asked still staring at the letters. “I think it’s an ancient transportation system, a fore, fore forerunner of the cascade system.” “Ah ok, well let’s look inside, shall we?” Joseph suggested and started to walk towards the entrance. “Welcome to the subway museum.”, a friendly looking old man greeted them. “Can we offer you a tour or would you like to comb through the museum by yourself?” “I think we going to take a look for ourselves, if you don’t mind.” The old man looked from Claire to Joseph as his hand reached behind his back. “No no, it’s alright. But take this map with you.” He pulled out a map from his pocket and handed it to them
. “So you don’t get lost.” He smiled at them as Claire took the map. It was rolled, not folded, and a red ribbon was wrapped around the brown ancient looking paper a loop held it together. It was a nice design. “Thank you, sir.” “You’re welcome.” Claire took it and as she put it into her backpack, they were already going through the entry archway into the museum.