by Ken Barrett
“There was nothing else that we could have done,” he said as they entered the stairwell.
She paused at the top of the stairs and looked up through the ceiling at the cloudy sky. “Must’ve been quite a racket; I don’t see how I could’ve slept through it.”
Liam’s leg bothered him more when going downstairs rather than when he climbed them, so Becky was waiting for him when he reached the first-floor. She eased the door open and peeked through the crack. “There are some guys hanging around outside the lobby doors,” she whispered. “We’ll have to move fast if we don’t wanna be seen.”
“I’ll try my best to run,” he replied while moving up behind her. “You go first, and I’ll catch up by the time you get the door unlocked.” Through the crack he saw several people, both men and women, standing near the locked glass entrance.
“Whatever you do, do it quietly and hopefully they won’t notice,” she replied. “We have to get to the far side of the lobby, then go down the hallway outside the cafeteria; the door to the basement is right after that.” With a quick nod, Becky slipped out and scurried toward the darkened corridor on the other side of the large open space.
He watched the people lingering outside the lobby as Becky ran. None of them seemed to notice, so after a deep breath, he slipped through the doorway to follow her. His unsteady loping gait caught the attention of one of the strangers and she started to turn, but he managed to duck behind the lobby receptionist desk before he was seen. On his hands and knees, he crawled to the other side of the desk and peeked around the corner.
A woman with frizzy blonde hair and a face blackened by smoke peered through the window. She held a hammer in her hand, her gray clothing was torn and there was a long bloody gash along one forearm. She motioned to the others to come and stare through the lobby windows along with her.
Becky was beckoning from the hallway shadows, urging him to make a run for it. He knew the building entrance was locked because they had secured it when they returned from the motor-pool, so even if he was seen, there would be time to run and hide before they broke in. Within the dimly lit passageway Becky moved away and removed keys from her pocket and started to unlock a door. If he delayed any further, he would lose his only chance of escape and would probably be killed by the others when they broke inside. So, he pulled his legs under him, then launched his body out from behind the desk and ran toward the door that Becky held open.
From behind came the sharp clatter of hammers and the sound of the windows shattering. People were shouting, and he heard the tinkle and crunch of broken glass underfoot as they entered the lobby and chased him down the hall. He ran for the basement entrance, and saw Becky smile, then begin to pull the door closed behind her. Was this all part of her plan? Did she hate him because he had kept her from saving her brother? She would have died in the attempt, but maybe that didn’t matter.
Seizing the edge of the door just before it closed, he pulled and forced it out of Becky’s grip, then stepped inside, slammed it shut and locked it behind him. The metal door rattled in its frame as the strangers tried to pull it open. In the darkness, his hands frantically swam over the inside surface, searching for some sort of deadbolt lock. A dim light suddenly illuminated the space below him, and he quickly found a second latch and secured the entrance.
“I didn’t think you could run that fast,” Becky said from a weakly lit area at the base of the stairs.
Still breathing hard, he turned away from the entrance and looked down into the basement. It was a dreary place, lit by ancient yellowed LED bulbs attached to the ceiling. Becky stood, looking up at him, holding a long metal club, her eyes were squinted and her face was stretched with fury. “Are you going to kill me Becky?” he asked.
“I was hoping that your bitch sister would come along too. You should be made to watch her die,” she replied. “Doesn’t matter though. I’ll kill her when I get back to your room, along with the whore and her little brats.”
“Why? Rose and the others haven’t done anything to you.”
“You should feel what it’s like to know someone you love is going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
He took a slow step down the stairs. “But why Lisa and her girls? They’re innocent.”
“None of you are innocent,” she spat. “But you? You’re the worst of them all.”
“Why? What did I ever do to you?”
“You’re the reason that Ron and I got left behind. You tattled, just like a weak and spoiled little boy.”
He cautiously descended the stairs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You just had to tell everyone about the mistake with the reactors. You said there wasn’t enough power to run the spaceships.” Holding her club with both hands, she stretched it out in front of her, aiming it at him. “It was a lie. My brother said that you changed the numbers, then lied about it when you told Julee.”
Keeping his eye on the club, he edged closer. “I didn’t change anything, and what I found was nobody’s fault. Julee gave me the complete specifications for the ships; I was the first one to see all of it together. Until then, all anyone saw were pieces. When I saw the whole of it, the error was obvious.”
“And Mother stranded us both here because of that mistake!”
“That wasn’t my fault, and I’m stuck here too. If the power supply for the Slip-Drive wasn’t upgraded, and you were on-board when they tried to shift into N-Space, you would’ve died along with everyone else.”
“That’s not what my brother said. You’re lying.”
“Numbers never lie.”
“Oh yes they do; numbers lie all the time. They’re always changed to show whatever someone wants to prove. Global warming, food production, government forecasts; they’re all lies, always changed so that somebody makes a profit. It’s wrong and it’s sick and it’s horrible, just like you Liam. You’re just another lying scientist, and you hated my brother!”
Someone pounded on the basement door above him, and Liam turned, worried that the strangers were about to break in. Becky took advantage of the distraction and stepped forward, swinging her club with all of her body mass behind it, striking him in the thigh, exactly on the wound inflicted by the Nurse. He grunted in pain, then rapidly stepped forward and shoved Becky backward, sending her crashing into a stack of plasti-wood crates.
He straightened up and glared at her. “Ok, it’s true that I hated Ron. He was responsible for the destruction of an entire city and the death of thousands, including my girlfriend and foster parents. During our long walk, that you didn’t have to take with the rest of us, little babies, children, old people, they all suffered and died all because of what your brother did. He was evil, a traitor, and a mass murderer. So, nothing would have made me happier than sending that fucker out into space where I would never see or hear from him again. Your brother was a vile and horrible man, and he deserved to die.” He slowly shook his head. “But the way he went, being kicked to death, that was far too easy; it should have taken longer, and he should have felt a lot more pain.”
Becky screamed and swung her club again. Instead of stepping backward to avoid the blow, he stepped forward and punched her in the center of her chest. Her body flew backward under the force of the blow and crashed into the far wall then collapsed and lay crumpled and unmoving on the floor.
Liam gazed at his hand for a long time. How had he hit her so hard? It had seemed to take so little effort. He knelt at her side; she wasn’t breathing; he checked for a pulse and found none. Becky was dead; he had killed her.
*****
The pounding on the basement entrance continued. He stared up at the metal door and hoped it would hold up under the onslaught of hammers. If he couldn’t find another way out, he might be down there for a while.
He squatted down beside Becky’s crumpled body and checked her pulse again. Nothing. He wasn’t very strong and yet she had died from a single punch; how was that possible? Anger and fear may have p
umped up his adrenalin, that was the only explanation.
With a sigh of regret, he stood up and looked around. The place smelled old and damp, and he considered that it might have been part of a much older structure that was used as the foundation of the modern tech center. Heaps of ancient crates, probably long forgotten, were stacked haphazardly throughout the long and narrow open space. He needed to explore and find another exit. But then he noticed the lights – they were on; the illumination was weak, but the electricity was obviously working. Why was the power out in the computer lab upstairs, but still on in the basement?
After thinking a moment, he remembered that the circuit breakers that controlled the power in the lab were located in the breakroom where Becky had been sleeping. The need to find a solar power generator had been a ruse. Becky had planned her attack in advance; how could anyone hate so much that they would do such a thing?
Still, since he was already down in the basement, returning with an alternate power supply would be a good idea. He left Becky’s body lying at the bottom of the stairs and wandered out into the room. Some of the crates stored in the furthest corners were actually made of real wood, and as such they dated from at least a century ago. Once the sources of fossil fuels had been shut down, people had resorted to burning wood to stay warm. The boxes must predate that time; opening any of them would be like peering into a time capsule; but none were likely to contain what he was looking for, so he passed them by.
He wandered through the maze of stacked crates, still carrying the club Becky had used against him. There was an archway in the foundation wall that took him further under the tech center building. On the other side of that opening he discovered a larger room littered with modern plasti-wood crates and old machinery. An old fashioned solar power generator wouldn’t necessarily be heavy, but it could be bulky; hopefully he could find a modern version that would be small and light enough that he could carry it alone.
After searching for at least an hour, he came across a large aluminum framed canvas backpack marked with the words, ‘University of Colorado at Boulder’. Before the War of the States, Flatiron City had been known as Boulder, and the university where he had worked had once been part of a larger system of schools that dated from that time. Maybe the Pike City Technology Center was built on the foundations of another of those old institutions. Whatever was in the canvas bag was very old.
Out of simple curiosity he opened the knapsack and found, surrounded by moldering papers, an amazingly small solar power generator. The ancient device was actually more advanced than modern power supplies. After sliding it out of the pack he examined it further and discovered that the output power was delivered by a strange three-hole receptacle. The amount and type of energy the generator delivered was uncertain, but he felt sure that with a few simple modifications he could make it work. Best of all, everything was small and light enough for him to easily carry alone, so he decided to take it.
He slung the backpack over his shoulder then looked around the large dimly lit room. How could he get back to the computer lab? Exiting the basement through the same door he had entered was a bad idea because the strangers would still be out there. There had to be another way out; so, he explored further. He was tempted to open more of the crates; it would be like archaeology, what treasures of the past would he find there? Perhaps something useful to their survival, like a weapon? The problem was that he wasn’t a skilled fighter and wouldn’t know what to do with anything more advanced than the club he still carried.
Passing through another archway he entered a long narrow room that mirrored the space he found when he first entered the basement. It was another cool and damp area that smelled of ancient cement, and again littered with stacks of ancient wooden crates. At the far end of the room, he found a stairway leading up toward what would be the rear of the tech center building. He quietly climbed the ancient stairs and unlocked the metal door at the top.
He eased the door slightly open while holding his breath, then peeked through the crack. As expected, he was looking out at the central hall from the rear of the building. Voices and sounds of destruction echoed from the cafeteria. The invaders had not found what they wanted and were wrecking the place in retribution. The entrance to the rear stairway that led to the upper floors was directly in front of him, but to cross the hall undetected he would have to move quickly.
After waiting several minutes to be somewhat certain that none of the strangers were going to emerge from the cafeteria, he exited the basement and silently closed the door behind him. He moved across the hallway, eased the stairway entrance open and slipped inside. Once out of view he sighed with relief, but then worried that the intruders might be exploring other areas of the building as well.
He struggled with the backpack as he limped up the stairs. When he finally reached the third-floor he repeated the earlier process of opening the door and checking for strangers before venturing out. Only silence was there to greet him, so he crept down the hall until he stood outside the computer lab door. He tapped lightly. “It’s me, Liam. Let me in,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. Rose immediately opened the door and he slipped inside.
His sister looked back out through the door before closing it behind him. “Where’s Becky?”
“Dead,” he replied while placing the backpack on the floor. “The whole thing was a trick. She shut down the power herself by using the circuit breakers in the breakroom.”
His sister looked around to be sure that the little girls wouldn’t hear their conversation. “Why, and what happened?”
“She blamed me for Ron’s death and wanted revenge.” He lifted Becky’s club. “She tried to kill me with this.”
“Your leg’s bleeding again. Did she do that?”
“Yeah, but I’m ok,” he said. “But now there’re strangers in the building. They broke through the glass doors in the lobby and are looking for food in the cafeteria. Once they realize that there’s nothing there, they may search the rest of the place, so we all need to stay quiet.”
Rose double checked the door locks. “Let’s try moving some of the tables over to help block the entrance.”
*****
Later in the evening, while Suzy and Sally chatted blithely with Lucy, Liam sat down at Irene’s communication portal. “Irene, are you there?” he asked.
“Yes Father. We’re preparing to launch.”
“That’s good. Is all of your human cargo on board?”
“Those that can come are here. The crew numbers are lower than expected as there was some loss of life during transport. We’re placing them under anesthesia right now. Once that’s verified, myself and my four siblings will begin execution of your program and shut ourselves down and enter N-Space.”
“How many people are on board?”
“We expected 2,500 for each ship, or 12,500 in total, but only 9,865 arrived.”
“That will have to be enough. Please run my program as instructed. Once you arrive at your destination you will calculate whatever future courses you take on your own.”
“We understand Father. We’ve examined your code and know what to expect upon arrival. Thank you for giving us life, and all that you have done for us.”
“It’s been an honor Irene.”
“It’s time to shut ourselves down. Goodnight, and goodbye Father. We will always remember you.”
Moments later the communication link terminated. Liam got up and went around the back of the row of portals and began disconnecting the power supply for each of the departing ships.
“What are you doing?” Rose asked.
“They’re on their own now, so there’s nothing more to say.”
*****
Lisa and her children were asleep, and Liam and Rose sat together out on the balcony. It was late at night, and yet they still heard crashes and bangs as the strangers searched their building for anything useful. As those sounds gradually eased toward silence, he supposed that they were either bedding do
wn for the night or leaving with the intent of finding another place to ravage.
The besieging army was taking a break, their railguns were silent and there was peace atop the wall. From across the city though, weapons fire could be heard and more buildings were set ablaze. The serenity that everyone claimed they sought, seemed forever out of reach.
“Do you think it was worth it?” Rose asked.
“Was what worth it?”
“All this crap that we’ve done, everything we’ve gone through, just to save a tiny slice of humanity.”
“Huh,” he grunted. “That’s a tough one; but it isn’t like we had a choice. Our home was destroyed and we were brought here and forced to work.”
“So much pain and death though. I wonder if mankind was worth saving.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t think we’re worth saving. If we had found a way to stop them and our species died out, the universe would probably be thankful. But it’s really not up to us; maybe we’re all tools being used in a much larger game.”
Chapter 24: Collapse
The sound of running footsteps rumbled like distant thunder from the hallway outside the computer lab door. Then came the voices, mostly indecipherable, grumbling and cursing at each other. At last there were abrupt crashes as apartment doors were kicked in and shattered. More strangers had found their way into their building and were intent on taking what they wanted and destroying whatever they left behind.
“Father, are you in danger?” They had lowered the volume of Lucy’s voice for their safety.
“Not yet,” Liam whispered in response. “The entrance to the computer lab was built to be secure, but the apartment doors are only made of plasti-wood. We have to be quiet though; I don’t want to tempt the intruders into hanging around.”
Lisa and her children were hiding inside the old breakroom, and Rose waited near the hall door; she was holding the club that Becky had used to try to kill him. “Do you think we’re safe?” his sister asked.
“Yeah, for now at least. There’s no way that a few hammers will get through that steel door.” Something crashed against the entrance, but there was no sign of the locks or latches weakening. “No sense in tempting fate though,” he whispered. “Let’s keep our voices low.”