Citadel: The Concordant Sequence

by Matthew S. Cox

  Four of the giant bison-like creatures congregated on the opposite shore a good distance away. One slipped into the water with all the grace of a brand new cruise ship sliding out of dry dock, becoming a shaggy island with eyes and horns. None of the creatures appeared to have noticed her, or if they had, showed no reaction. She drank a few more handfuls before retreating into the woods.

  “How did those animals survive?” asked Kiera.

  “They didn’t.” Pet floated closer to her head. “The machines in the citadel made them, like they made this whole forest. I don’t think any animals like that existed before Cloudfall. These appear to be the result of a genetic experiment trying to make something resilient enough to survive. Every now and then, they produce animals of different types to test survivability. Few manage to last more than a couple weeks. Those creatures your parents call mammoths are the most hardy, but they also aren’t natural.”

  “Oh.” Kiera put her hand on a tree, examining the coarse bark. “There’s seeds and stuff floating down the river.”

  “Yep,” chirped Pet.

  She started to feel hungry, but thought about drinking water with hands that had been all over a sewer less than an hour earlier—and lost her appetite. Ugh. I am going to get so sick… Wait… Pet said all the germs died, too. Kiera stared in horror at the green-tinged clouds overhead, far above the pines. “What kind of awful crap is in the air?”

  “Heavy metals, industrial chemicals, burned remnants of petroleum products, various gases. Some of the warfare that occurred in the end of the 2030s involved chemical weapons. There is a large amount of dust from concrete, insulation, other building materials and such. During the toxic period before the citadels were complete, the contaminants in the atmosphere became so concentrated that they dissolved almost all evidence of human construction as well as plant life. Most of the chemical weapons have denatured by now, but there are traces.”

  “Ugh. Sorry for asking.” She marched on, her need to be with her parents growing near to painful. “How much farther?”

  “At your current rate of speed, you will arrive home in one hour, twenty two minutes.”

  Kiera nodded. Don’t run. Need to save up so I can run from robots later.

  Trees dappled with lichen passed all around her for most of the walk. Not hearing birds at all unnerved her and made the woods feel like a video game made by lazy developers. She daydreamed about the citadels and what the world might be like if what she’d read about them had been true. In her mind, she pushed a button and the Earth bloomed to life. Alien clouds shrank back to puffy cotton balls in a blue sky while animals erupted from the pyramid-shaped citadel like a volcano blast of fur, happily chittering off to their homes in a forest that spread over the land like magic.

  “It’s good to see you smiling,” said Pet.

  “Somehow I don’t think it’s going to work like that…” She chuckled.

  “Hmm?”

  Kiera shrugged. “Just daydreaming about fixing the planet. It’s not going to be like a cartoon, right? Boom, life everywhere?”

  “Doubtful. The process will take many years. It is more than probable you will not live to see the planet fully restored, but it will improve noticeably within your lifetime.”

  “Hey, I’m technically an old lady.” She puffed up her chest.

  Pet laughed.

  An hour and change later, Kiera emerged from the forest within sight of home. The ramshackle building grabbed her by the heartstrings and yanked. Pathetic as it was, it had become more a home than anywhere she could ever remember being. Her little bedroom and its sad excuse for a mattress felt like a suit of armor she needed to put on.

  Abandoning care, she raced across the field behind the house, weaving among Dad’s scrap piles to the back door, calling out for her parents. She burst inside, gazing around at an empty building.

  “No…” She slouched. Panic gnawed on the back of her mind, bringing trembles. She darted to the front door and stuck her head out to survey the empty front yard. “Where are they?”

  Pet, hanging in midair behind her, bounced a few inches with a rapid spin. “Perhaps they are searching for you? I can travel much faster. Would you like me to go look for them?”

  Kiera put a hand on her chest, trying to stop breathing so fast. “Uhh… maybe. Do you think it will be better if I stay here?”

  “I am not sure.”

  She paced around for a little while before sudden need sent her running to the outhouse, overjoyed to have access to her purloined toilet paper instead of the awfulness of what had occurred in the sewer. Once she finished, she walked around the house outside a few times, lonely and heartsick before collecting a few carrots and a potato from the garden. Kiera trudged inside, rinsed them off, and flopped to sit at the table, head down.

  Raw vegetables tasted surprisingly good. Anything’s yummy when you’re starving. She sighed past a mouthful of potato. How different a word could be… ‘Starving’ once meant something far different from the now she found herself in. Her old whine demanding food had become a literal possibility.

  Forcing herself to eat, she finished off her meager lunch and leaned back in her chair, heels up on the cushion. She stared between her knees across the house, gazing into nowhere, lost to fear. Her parents might wander for days not realizing she’d come home. Something might happen to them before they got back. What if bandits found them? Dad’s hurt… but he’s got a laser. She clutched her pistol tight.

  A small, silver plastic object caught her eye, sitting on the table beside the bowl of pepper. It resembled a USB memory fob, only it had no connector.

  She picked it up, turning it over in her fingers. “This is new… Pet?”

  The cube drifted over. “It is a wireless memory module.”

  Kiera set it back on the table in front of her. “It wasn’t here before… what’s on it?”

  “Accessing.” Pet landed beside it. Cyan light leaking between the seams of its outer shell dimmed and surged in a continuous cycle. A moment later, the glow became steady. “There is a holo-recording. It appears to be a message for you.”

  “Can you play it?”

  “Yes.”

  A tiny spot on the cube’s front face lit up, projecting a holographic man on the table, about the size of a Ken doll, transparent like a ghost. He appeared to be in his middle forties, black hair with touches of grey above his ears, and didn’t look like he got much sunlight. His blue long-sleeved shirt had funny gold marks at the ends of the sleeves and a golden flat-topped pyramid pin on his breast. Loose pants, the same shade of blue as his shirt, bloomed where they met military-style boots. The eight-inch tall man stared down at something in front of him, half a victorious grin on his face.

  Merely looking at him filled Kiera with the urge to hit him square in the nose. “I don’t know who that is, but he looks like a douche.”

  “I trust you will have found your way back to this little hovel eventually,” said the man.

  His voice grated on her nerves, dripping with so much superiority she wanted to choke him. Like those commercials for expensive cars where the announcer guy radiated smugness.

  “I am Anton Sokolov, administrator of the Citadel. Despite your primitive inclinations, you should realize that I am in charge of everything that goes on, inside and outside of the Citadel. The tribals”―he muted a chuckle―“sorry, your parents are they? Have been detained. They are guests of mine in secure custody. I will release them upon your surrender. Robots are terribly resource expensive you know. Await―oh what is it you primitives call the bus… the ‘passage’ or some such nonsense. It will bring you to the gates. The sentries have been alerted to allow you inside. I trust you do not want your”―he chuckled again―“parents to spend the rest of their life in prison, do you? See you soon.” He waved. “Ta.”

  He wagged one eyebrow at her before the image blinked out.

  Kiera slammed her fists on the table, making the pepper bowl jump. “I hate him!” Sh
e flew from the chair and stormed in circles around the house. Several times, she drew her foot back to kick something in a rage, but thought better of driving bare toes into metal table legs or wooden boxes. Anger fizzled out in moments, and she flopped seated on the edge of her parents’ bed. “I’ll go. I can’t let them sit in jail.”

  “I believe he is lying,” said Pet.

  She perked up. “You don’t think he’s got them?”

  “Not lying on that point. I believe he does have them… but I think he is trying to deceive you about his promise to release them. They are only safe as long as he does not have you.”

  Kiera jumped up, arms out to the sides as she shouted, “Why does he want me?! I’m just a kid!”

  “I do not know.” Pet drooped in the air.

  Again, she paced. “What’s wrong with him? What did I do that’s so bad? I… can’t stay here. I have to do something.”

  Pet followed her around. “I’m not sure what―”

  “Kiera!” shouted Osc. He burst in the front door and ran over to hug her.

  Peter, Mei, and Sparrow hurried in after. Mei also flung herself into an embrace. Peter smiled, while Sparrow gave her a silly grin.

  “They took my parents,” said Kiera.

  “Sky Spirits…” Peter folded his arms. “That’s not good.”

  Mei clasped her hands in front of herself, her poncho draped over a body that made Kiera feel thick. “My parents will hide you. You can stay with us.”

  “Whole everyone hide you.” Sparrow bounced on his toes. “No one tells metal men. You in ’a Exxo tribe.”

  “We got firelight now.” Osc tugged his tiny cloth-wrap shorts up. “We stop metal men if they try to take you ’gain.”

  Kiera looked down, her hair gathering around her hips. “They won’t. He’s not going to send more robots. They cost too much. I’ve got to go to the Citadel to help my parents.”

  “They’ll never let you in.” Peter walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. “We need work permits to get inside the gates, and they don’t let tribal children in, ever.”

  Mei frowned. “I guess they think we’re too wild and we’ll break stuff.”

  “More like they think we’re dirty.” Osc grinned.

  Sparrow looked down at his mud-caked self. “We is dirty.”

  “Come on.” Mei grabbed her hand and pulled. “You can share my room.”

  Kiera stared at her dress, missing her parents more for the sight of it. The Citadel wouldn’t let a primitive girl in, but they’d be expecting her to show up. What would they do? Shoot her on sight? Stun her? If I’m going to get caught anyway, I should at least try to be sneaky first. She blinked. The fabricator! It can make modern clothes. They won’t be looking for that. “Thank you, Mei… if the worst happens, I’d be happy to stay with you, but I have to try something.”

  “What?” asked Peter.

  “I have an idea.” She closed her eyes and made a wish. “I gotta go. Maybe I’ll be back.”

  28

  The Fabricator

  Kiera climbed to her little bedroom, Mei creeping up behind. Peter, Osc, and Sparrow gathered at the bottom of the ladder. She pulled her beloved dress off, folded it, and set it on the shelf before grabbing the dog-hide poncho from the mattress and putting it on. The heavier material would be better for a long walk, especially if she wound up in a chilly sewer again. It also offered her legs more freedom of movement. Plus, the dress had become a physical symbol of her new family’s love. She adored it more than her old Supernova 2 and couldn’t risk damaging it or having it taken from her if bandits grabbed her. Surely, they’d steal her clothes and sell them separately for even more trade value.

  She fumed quietly to herself at how those men had treated her. For once in her life, she didn’t feel at all bad that people died. Those three, the world could do without. And she had no idea what would happen if the Citadel forces caught her. They might take the dress too, and give her ‘better’ clothes. Kiera picked at one of the resistors lining the neck, thinking of her parents.

  I’m gonna get you guys out.

  “You’re leaving?” asked Mei, standing by the ladder.

  Kiera turned to face her friend. “I have to. If I stay here and do nothing, Mom and Dad sit in jail forever. He might even hurt them if I take too long.”

  Her friend shivered. “Such scary.”

  “Yes.” Kiera squeezed her hands into fists. “But I don’t have a choice.”

  Mei backed down the ladder, allowing Kiera to descend into the house.

  Peter walked up to her. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No way.” Kiera shook her head. “Your father would kill me, even if the robots don’t. I can’t let any of you get hurt for this. Please stay safe.”

  The four exchanged uneasy looks.

  “How far is it to the fabricator?” asked Kiera.

  Pet glided closer. “It will take you two days to walk there from here.”

  “Okay.”

  Kiera pulled a small canvas satchel from a shelf. She filled plastic water bottles and packed them along with eight protein bars and some potatoes for variety. Her friends stood in a group watching her prepare. She shouldered the satchel, stuffed the laser pistol in it, and faced the other kids. They stared in awkward silence. She hugged them one after the next, begging them not to follow her and stay safe in Exxo. She also asked them to make sure no one messed with her home until she returned.

  Peter grasped her by both shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Promise me you will come back.”

  “Me too,” said Mei. “I hated being the only girl here.”

  “There’s other girls.” Osc poked her.

  Mei whirled on him. “Yeah but they’re all babies or two-year-olds.”

  “I promise.” Kiera gripped the satchel strap. “I’ve got Pet, too. So I’m not scared.” She fidgeted. “Much.”

  Kiera headed out the back door, the others following. She nabbed a roll of TP from the outhouse and added it to the satchel. Almost as important as water. After a final series of farewell hugs, she set off following Pet. Her friends gathered at the edge of the scrapyard, waving.

  Hours passed in silence, a trail of footprints stretching off behind her in the powdery silt. A fragment of a vehicle stuck up out of the ground on the left, the long barrel of a tank’s cannon bent like a chewed up drinking straw. The stiff breeze blowing across her path kept her cool, aided by sometimes lifting her arms so the air could get under her poncho. She took a water bottle out and sipped it on the move, drinking about a third before capping it and putting it back.

  Gotta make it last.

  “The administrator has to be after me because of my bio parents. They worked for Citadel Corporation.”

  Pet rotated around to face her, though it kept gliding at the same speed. “Corporations have not existed for a long time.”

  “I know. Maybe I can find something inside that will explain why he’s got a bug up his butt over me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Kiera explained the meaning of having a bug up one’s butt while climbing across a field of concrete rubble and downed utility poles at the edge of another ruin. A few still-standing skeletons of buildings remained in the distance. By late afternoon, thunder rolled overhead, booming out over the desert. She plodded onward, leaving the small ruin behind. The sky darkened, and a short while later, opened up with a downpour.

  She pulled the hood up, the first time she could remember ever doing so, and gathered her hair around to hang in front of her before double-checking the strap holding the satchel closed. She did not want her TP getting ruined. Rain pelted her, turning the ground to a gooey mess in minutes. Her feet occasionally slipped out from under her as she trudged amid the deluge, but she picked herself up each time and kept going.

  “Kiera. There is shelter ahead,” said Pet after a long while.

  “’Kay.”

  The glowing cube led her through the darkness of a heavy storm
. She started to sink to her shins with each step in some places, and had wiped out often enough throughout the day to be covered head to toe in pale grey mud, as if she’d gone swimming in it on purpose. Pet zipped off toward where a giant shadow loomed out of the driving rain. She waved her arms for balance, struggling to walk over ground that kept trying to grab her feet and not let go.

  Eventually, she reached a scrap of parking lot that offered solid footing for a short distance in front of an old store. So much of the wall had crumbled that doors and windows lost meaning. She ducked in out of the rain and stood in place dripping for a little while. Eventually, she set the satchel down, pulled the poncho off, and took a rain shower to clean herself of mud.

  Once clean, she padded back under the shelter of the roof and used the poncho as a pad to avoid sitting on hard concrete when she flopped on the ground. She ate a meal of a protein bar and the rest of the water in the first bottle. Pet hovered close while reciting the book they’d started. Kiera choked up, thinking of her father being so enthralled with the story.

  “Please wait for Dad. You can read a different one if you want.” Kiera leaned forward, gazing out at the rain with a sigh. “Ugh. I guess I’m sleeping here tonight. What time is it?”

  “It will be dark in about an hour and forty minutes. It does not seem like the rain will stop by then, so it would be a good idea to shelter here.”

  The wet heat in the air made the choice between using the poncho as a blanket or a mattress simple. She stretched out on top of it, fingers laced together behind her head, and listened to Pet narrate a science fiction type story about a sixteen-year-old girl named Jen stuck alone on a space station after some mysterious event killed everyone.

  “Pet?”

  It paused the story. “Yes?”

  She rolled her head to the side to look up at the flying cube. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but maybe a story about some girl who lost her parents and everyone she knows and is alone in the middle of nowhere might not be the best thing right now, ’kay?” Her lip quivered.