Dr. Beck’s breath hitched in his throat and the tears stung his eyes. He thought of her often. She was always shrouded in a distant cloudy mist. A part of his life that would haunt him forever.
Make it count.
“Let’s move on,” Donald said.
You can, Dr. Beck thought. He knew a part of him would never move on. It would be trapped in that narrow alley for all time.
26.
THEY’D SEEN the large pointing mountain since shortly after they’d emerged from Station commune, a huge natural wonder that defied explanation. In times gone by, ancient people believed the mountain pointed the way to heaven, at other times, to a large pot of gold in the sky. It did neither of these things. In fact, it pointed at an intergalactic spacecraft built by an alien race that had come to wipe out the human race and harvest their planet for resources. Dr. Beck would love to see someone in the past predict that.
Each swelling hilltop rise they came to made that mountain soar ever higher into the sky. For the past few days, when it ought to have dominated their view it was all but invisible behind nature’s curtain canopy.
They finally emerged from the forest and came to a stop. There it was. The sun was reaching its apex for the day, its rays warm and inviting. It blinked off the very tip of the mountain’s pointing finger. Its shadow stretched for an elongated half mile. If it were a sundial, it would be saying it was Donald and Dr. Beck o’clock.
“There she is,” Dr. Beck said.
Built into the mountain’s side, exposed like an internal organ, was a large metal door built for a giant. Most surprising of all, at least for Dr. Beck, who knew how many people had attempted to get inside it, the door stood wide open.
Dr. Beck’s heart thumped in his throat. The kids had already entered Denver City. But not all of them. One girl—who Dr. Beck didn’t recognize—stood outside the City, her back to them. Waiting? Deciding whether or not to go in? He wasn’t sure. A horse and cart stood to attention behind her, tail swishing and its head nodding, front hoof pawing at the soft earth in front of it.
They’d arrived just a moment too soon.
27.
“HEY!” DONALD shouted. “Hey! Hey!”
Any attempt to quietly approach the girl had been shattered instantly. But then, Donald didn’t want to creep up on his own kids. He wanted to sweep them up in his arms.
The girl turned to look at them. She was too distant for her expression to register. She hopped a little in the air in surprise and ran to her horse. She led him toward the City.
“No!” Donald shouted. “Wait!”
He unshouldered his backpack midstride and let it fall to the ground. Dr. Beck stood stock still and watched. He prayed Donald wouldn’t make it in time.
“Hey!” Donald shouted. “Hey! Hey!”
If Donald discovered what he’d done to his kids. . . It would be over. It was good he was so distant. He could make a (somewhat) hasty retreat into the woodland. Who knew how Donald would react.
Donald ran as fast as his legs could carry him, throwing his arms back and stretching his legs as far as they would go.
“No!” he said. “Wait!”
The girl got inside with her horse and must have hit the button to shut the door. It moved very, very slowly. If Donald kept up his brutal pace he might make it inside.
Dr. Beck could hardly breathe. Powerless, he stood and stared. It was going to be close. From his angle, it was difficult to tell how near Donald was getting. Could he make it?
Dr. Beck got his answer as the doors shut with a loud boom, then the clank and grind of the bars and the spinning discs slotting into place.
Donald was at the door, banging on it. Dr. Beck doubted even the girl, right on the other side, would hear the pounding. Donald hung his head. Beaten.
The door hadn’t only been built to keep people out, but to keep Rages at bay too. It was perhaps the only door in the world that could make that boast. But there were other entrances, secret ones, into the facility. Ones that weren’t anywhere near as impregnable.
Tap.
Something bumped against Dr. Beck’s boot. A rock. That was strange. Since when did rocks move of their own volition?
Tap.
Another rock kissed the steel toecap of his boot. Then a dozen rocks of assorted sizes began to dance, vibrating to some unknown hypnotic tune. Dr. Beck could feel it too, moving up his legs, his torso and into his arms.
An earthquake? Not in this area.
Hope filled his chest. His message. His plan. He’d switched the controls, so even if Lucy plugged herself into the system, she wouldn’t know what they were really doing. Launching the rocket.
His plan was working. Despite the odds, despite the dangers, the kids had made it here, and she, the one they called Lucy, had plugged herself into the City’s system. She was doing it.
She was becoming Mother.
28.
HE’D IMAGINED it countless times in his dreams, had shut his eyes during the quiet moments at work, and envisaged the rocket blasting off and taking to the great warmth of the darkness above. He’d witnessed a rocket launch once before—just once—from his own City but it had come with a deep sense of desperation.
Lucy was meant to have been aboard that rocket. She was meant to be their crowning achievement, docking with the giant mothership on the other side of the moon. Without her, it was just another machine, a series of beautifully designed components that would fit together like a piece of art but it was not a living thing, not a vessel into which they could pour their hopes.
The ground shook harder this time—so hard that Donald lost his footing. Dr. Beck preemptively sat down to enjoy the show.
A large fissure like a bolt of lightning cracked the mountain in two, stretching from the tip to the ground. First one, then two, then three, then too many to count. The rocket was being born.
Donald scrambled back on his hands and feet away from the giant door. It was no good. He’d never get far enough away from the mountain now. In the old days, when they had burned regular oil for fuel and hadn’t yet unlocked the Bugs’ antimatter energy system, Donald would have been obliterated by the blastoff fires. The new tech did not require such destruction, nor such waste. It was a perfectly efficient fuel system, one that created energy, burnt it off and then reused the energy it had created to continuously propel itself forward.
Perhaps one day, if they ever stepped from the yoke of their alien oppressors, they might utilize that technology to power entire continents across the globe. Another of his dreams, the ultimate one, of the future and its accompanying possibilities. Ironically, the alien technology used to destroy them would also lead to a revolution the likes of which the human race had never seen. The tool of their destruction was the key to their salvation.
The antimatter engines were currently working at approximately ten percent. More than enough to defy Earth’s gravity. Accelerate too fast now and the entire mountain would implode in upon itself. Worse, it might inadvertently create a black hole.
The ship floated a second as it continued to shed its rocky outer skin. The boulders, as big as SUVs, tumbled to the ground. Donald might escape the blast off zone but he still might get crushed.
As the rocks and debris from the mountain fell away, it revealed the rocket’s shining exterior. A gorgeous piece of engineering. Almost the same size as the mountain that had contained it. The rest of the mountain still remained, the great cannon still pointing at the sky.
Small replicas of the giant cannon had been built and stored inside that rocket, and would unfurl themselves at a later date. There would be entire warehouses full of automatic weapons for the drones. It would automatically unfurl once it was successfully docked in space and made contact with the most powerful weapon they had.
Mother.
The engines grew louder, an electric hum like a nest of angry hornets. The rocket began to gently turn, spinning as the engines engaged and the rocket inched higher and higher, towa
rd the endless black of night of the universe.
Toward the moon. Toward the future. Toward their destiny.
29.
THE ROCKET had shrunk to the size of a pinhead, then disappeared entirely by the time Donald extricated himself from the pile of boulders and large rocks. He was covered head to foot in dust. It drifted off his body like a great flowing cape as he walked back to join Dr. Beck.
The rocket was lost to the eye long before it would reach Earth’s orbit. The cloaking device had been activated. In the rocket’s wake was a giant cleft in the mountain, basic facilities remaining within the pointing mountain. Living areas, food production units, and of course, digger drones.
After the rocket had launched, there was little more the City of Denver could do but sit and wait, to live out the rest of the apocalypse in isolation. If their plan worked, the mothership would destroy the Bug ship and they would be free to begin rebuilding the world. If the mothership failed, they would prepare to fire the giant cannon. Their last resort. And if that failed. . . Well, the Bugs weren’t likely to take the insult softly. The City, the mountain, would likely get wiped from the face of the Earth as if it had never existed, using technology Dr. Beck couldn’t even dream of.
They had a protocol in place, of course. A failsafe should Lucy not reach the mothership or the system should fail. The supercomputer was fully automated, with access to every node of the ship. It would carry out Lucy’s duty if she was not able. It was believed the Bugs would recognize a computer’s decision-making process, incapable of doing the unexpected, and it was for this reason Lucy was their first choice.
The system would wait one month before it activated automatically. There was no way to forestall that countdown, no way for them to send a message to the ship to wait a little longer. The Bugs had erected a system that blocked all messages sent or received. That was why it was so important Lucy get there on time. Dr. Beck was pleased she would soon be there, beginning the next part of her destiny.
“Enjoying yourself?” Donald said.
“It’s good to sit back and enjoy things from time to time,” Dr. Beck said.
“My kids were onboard that rocket,” Donald said. “And now it’s halfway to God knows where.”
“We should hope so, yes,” Dr. Beck said.
“Hope so?” Donald said. “They’re heading into space! They’re children.”
“Don’t underestimate children,” Dr. Beck said. “Many studies suggest they’re far more proficient at certain activities than adults.”
“How can you be so calm about this?” Donald said. “Didn’t you see that thing?”
“I did indeed,” Dr. Beck said. “Gorgeous piece of engineering, don’t you think?”
Donald was lost for words. Dr. Beck used his walking stick to push himself up onto his feet.
“Your children will never get attacked by Rages or Reavers again,” Dr. Beck said. “They’ll never get hungry or thirsty. They’re in the safest place there is.”
“Around the moon,” Donald said.
“I understand it must be difficult to let your children go, but believe me, they’re in a better place now,” Dr. Beck said. “They’re going to be remembered forever in history books as heroes.”
Donald grabbed Dr. Beck by the lapels and lifted him up. He was so tall, Dr. Beck’s feet didn’t touch the ground.
“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?” Donald said. “You wanted the kids to get in that damn rocket. Didn’t you?”
Dr. Beck didn’t try to struggle. There would be no point.
“The ship needs its mother,” Dr. Beck said.
“What about me?” Donald said. “The boys need their father!”
“I’m sorry they had to be involved in this,” Dr. Beck said, “but trust me, they’re going to be fine.”
“Fine?” Donald said, his grip growing tighter. “You shoot my kids into space and you tell me they’re going to be fine?”
“Please calm down,” Dr. Beck said. “If you step back and look at this from my perspective, you’ll see—”
“No,” Donald said. “This—”
Snapping undergrowth. Birds taking flight. Foliage disturbed at multiple points. All the hallmarks that—
“Something’s coming,” Donald said.
A lot of something.
“What is it?” Dr. Beck said.
“Sh,” Donald said, turning his heightened senses to the forest.
He grew very still, his eyes gaunt.
“We have to get inside the City,” he said. “Now.”
“Why?” Dr. Beck said. “Who’s coming?”
“Not who, what,” Donald said. “Rages. A lot of them.”
The blood fell from Dr. Beck’s face. Of course, they would. The deafening noise from the rocket launch would draw them from miles around.
“I know a way inside,” Dr. Beck said. “We have to go now.”
The Rages smashed through the forest on every side as the pair turned and ran for Denver City.
Dr. Beck had switched sides. Now, he very much hoped they could reach it before the climax event happened.
30.
LUCY WAS the first to fall into a seat. It was directly behind her and the force of the first ground shake had pushed her into it. For a moment, there was calm as the rocketship held itself suspended in midair. Out the window, Lucy spied uninterrupted blue skies and sprigs of white clouds. Below, probing the bottom of the window frame were the tips of the very tallest forest trees. They were not rising.
A far better indicator of their predicament was the dashboard, with its flickering lights, various levels, and gauges. She knew, seemingly by instinct, what these dials meant. They told her the ship was floating. Then the engines began to charge up. It was then, in that window of relative calm that the others got up off the floor, still a little unsteady, as the ground undulated gently beneath them.
“Is it over?” Fatty said. “Is it done? Can we go now?”
“It hasn’t started yet,” Lucy said. “Everyone, find a seat.”
They did so without questioning her, strapping themselves in.
“What’s going to happen now?” Jamie said.
“I think we’re heading away,” Lucy said.
“Where to?” Jamie said.
The question flitted into Lucy’s consciousness and the answer immediately flashed into her vision, so fast she barely saw it. But she didn’t need to see it. It had already entered her subconscious mind, along with a parcel of other related information.
Images of the location, of exact coordinates, the route they would take, how long it would take down to the millisecond, even what awaited them on the other side of the moon, the reasons for the mission and who was involved, every member of each City. Lucy shut her eyes, cutting off the constant stream of information. She would consult it later. The information was instantly removed from her mind.
The computer was not telling her what to do or how to do it. It was not a separate consciousness that vied for control. It was a tool, something that aided her, an extension of her own mind. It was plugged into the systems in a way she could never be because it was the system. She was her own person. This was merely an interface. That realization came as a huge relief to her.
“To the moon,” Lucy said. “We’re going to the dark side of the moon.”
The others shared a look. Part confused, part unsure, part upset, even part angry. The emotions jostled and fought for prime position on their faces.
The second slow-release impulse from the engine began to fire and the entire ship started to rise, inching upwards slowly, gathering speed. The ship gradually turned, spinning with their ascent. Lucy wondered how the spinning aided them. Once again, the system brought her the relevant information. Schematics of the ship, explanations of the forces acting upon the vessel, detailed analytics of the Earth’s atmosphere and pressure and how—
Lucy shook her head. The information disappeared from view again. Fatty muttered somethi
ng to himself under his breath, eyes closed. A prayer? They pushed higher, all eyes on the glass ceiling. It wasn’t really glass, of course, but a material nigh indestructible. They watched as the blue sky gave way to darker hues of navy blue and then melted into black. The stars twinkled, coming out to play, tiny flecks of distant light they would never see up close.
Except, perhaps they would. Lucy could see what the mothership was capable of, could see the design specs of the other nodes—should they be present behind the moon—and what they were capable of. And it had all been given to her.
It was a weighty burden.
Lucy sat back and kept her mind focused on the ship’s engine in case there were any errors she had to deal with. She was surprised she thought she actually could handle any problems if they came up. She was born for this. She hadn’t really accepted that fact. Until now.
“Entering Earth’s orbit now,” a voice in Lucy’s ear said.
She heard it, none of the others did. There was no noticeable difference in the ship’s flight pattern.
She felt the same G-force effects on her body as everyone else did, like her stomach was delayed by several seconds. It caught up to her as the Earth’s gravity weakened.
She felt herself lighten and began to lift out of her seat. Her hair floated up, then around her face. The only thing stopping her going higher were her restraints. She peered at the others. Jamie’s knife came free and floated in front of his face. He touched it with a finger, sending it spinning in endless circles.
They shared a smile, then chuckled. None of them had expected this.
“Gravity field engaging now,” the computer said.
They began to slowly lower back into their harnesses until the gravity level felt normal again.
After the Fall- The Complete series Box Set Page 48