Before the Nothingness (The Great Blue Above Book 4)
Page 33
Meanwhile, what to do with the Blast became a contentious topic within The Mountain. From what my father told me, The Board wanted to horde the Blast, to keep it for those in The Mountain in case they ever needed to relocate and survive outside. We’d already cut ourselves off from anyone who might have survived beyond One Corp.’s civilization, and with most of the ISUs failing, The Board argued that those people couldn’t be saved anyway. Bringing them inside would’ve put too much strain on our resources and though some argued The Mountain couldn’t turn its back on the ISUers, an overwhelming majority voted in favor of isolationism. My father went along with the vote. . .
. . . but he didn’t agree with it. Vestiges of One Corp.’s power structure had remained in place long after such a thing as a corporation existed. My father always spoke of The Board as a group of advisors, but I eventually learned they were taking more and more of my father’s power away; that may have been another reason for my father’s growing paranoia. But Samuel Jonas wasn’t the type of man to roll over and do as others told him. Though he’d kept me shielded from the worst of the power struggles, I believe he sympathized with the villagers since I’d spent so much time among them. Without The Board knowing, my father hijacked a large supply of Blast and sneaked out of The Mountain.
My father happened upon a large group of villagers who’d banded together with the intent of storming The Mountain. My father brought security with him, but rather than start a battle with the tired, freezing villagers, he gave them the gift of the Blast. My father could be a very persuasive man and he convinced the villagers that the Blast was their only hope.
Every villager accepted the injection and the initial results were positive. Injectees reported increased strength and muscle mass that made their bodies better suited for the cold. Villagers were better able to work on the surface for longer stretches of time and therefore made repairs to many ISUs, including many that were broken and abandoned long before. Despite the weather worsening, the situation in ISU-Ville began to steady within weeks and there wasn’t a single reported death from exposure.
That wasn’t to say that all side effects of the Blast had been eradicated. With newfound strength came added aggression, leading to several fights among villagers. With newfound musculature and mass came tufts of thick, white hair and increased fat. Though the side effects weren’t ideal, most villagers remained happy and the outdoor community thrived.
I wanted to move back outside. Despite my last name, I was always kept on the higher levels of The Mountain. I hated not breathing fresh air or seeing the sun and the sky. Despite The Board’s growing influence within The Mountain (they never forgave my father for dispersing the Blast to villagers), my father preferred to keep me close. Villagers found that results of their Blast injections weren’t permanent and without annual injections—and then injections every six months, and then every other month—their bodies atrophied to levels far below what they’d been pre-Blast.
The Board pushed for a stronger version of the Blast. They somehow got ahold of Dr. Weller’s initial Blast research and loved the added strength and mass in experiments conducted on rats (and they didn’t, apparently, care about the harsher, sometimes deadly, side effects). Dr. Weller and my father warned The Board, but The Board had grown so powerful that nobody could ignore their orders. According to Dr. Weller, he and my father agreed to create the Blast 2.0 solely as a cover for another project they were working on. With The Board satisfied, Dr. Weller and my father were able to continue secret plans of their own; more on that to come.
Dr. Weller urged The Board to allow him more time to conduct trials of the Blast 2.0; he was denied. He and my father were also denied access to the villagers. The Board was apparently afraid Dr. Weller or my father would warn the villagers and frighten them away from the Blast 2.0. The Board sent out its own representatives to ISU-Ville to administer the injections. This is where details of the story become hazy for one simple reason: only one person sent to ISU-Ville made it back alive.
According to the lone surviving representative, the villagers nearly ripped them apart before they administered the first injection. The villagers were already in bad shape and when the injections didn’t move quickly enough, there was yelling and shoving and accusations. Then, they began to receive the Blast 2.0. Trouble began with the very first recipient, whose violent outburst within seconds of injection did not scare off a single person in line.
The Blasted villager attacked not only the man who gave her the injection, but also those closest to her in line. The injectee sprouted massive tufts of white hair and immediately lost the ability to speak, growling instead. When The Board’s reps realized their terrible mistake, they tried explaining that they’d bring the Blast 2.0 back to The Mountain for further testing; the villagers didn’t want that. They rushed the representatives, tearing them apart when needed, stealing as many of the injections as possible. According to the lone survivor, the villagers not only killed The Mountain’s reps, they also turned on each other—before and after injecting themselves. It was a bloody massacre. The lone surviving Mountain rep barely made it to The Mountain despite being hunted by the villager/beast hybrids.
My father was appalled by what happened, as was Dr. Weller. The two recognized the potential for the Blasted hybrids to turn out disastrously and had therefore focused on Dr. Weller’s other hybrid project, this one splicing human DNA with aviary DNA. Though some birds were known for ‘flying south’ for the winter—back when winter only lasted a quarter of the year in most places—many varieties were also known for not just surviving, but thriving in arctic climates. In Dr. Weller’s most ambitious plans, he envisioned such a hybrid gaining the ability to travel lengthy distances in awful weather, if the need ever existed.
Knowing the potential for The Board to commandeer their research, my father insisted that only his own blood be used during the hybridization testing, a fact The Board did not know. My father often swore to me that he’d rather die than allow The Board to make another disastrous decision about the new version of Blast, this one called Aviary Blast. After Dr. Weller produced a large quantity of the Aviary Blast, their secret could be hidden no longer.
My father implored Dr. Weller to destroy the batch of Aviary Blast, as well as his research. Dr. Weller wished to do just that, but The Board got to their lab first and confiscated everything. My father was imprisoned, a fate Dr. Weller avoided by pretending to work on The Board’s behalf. In reality, Dr. Weller kept me hidden from The Board—knowing they’d eventually discover the link between the Aviary Blast and Jonas DNA—and worked to hide every piece of research. Though he ultimately couldn’t hide everything—and though a small quantity of the actual Aviary Blast remained in The Board’s possession—Dr. Weller prevented The Board from being able to reproduce any more of it.
Dr. Weller’s heroics didn’t end there. He hid me in the hangar bay before finally showing up to tell me that we had to go. I asked about the whereabouts of my father—we might not have gotten along so well, but he was still the most important person in my life—but Dr. Weller told me the horrific news of my father’s death.
“He killed himself before The Board could understand the importance of his blood to our research,” Dr. Weller had told me. “It won’t be long until The Board figures out the link to Jonas blood. The fools will probably inject themselves with the Aviary Blast before realizing I’ve destroyed the rest of my research.”
Despite the devastation over my father’s death, I trusted Dr. Weller. Since I’d already traveled the only finished tunnel connecting The Mountain to my family’s ISU, I knew where we had to go in The Mountain to get to it. Though neither of us had ever set foot in the underground energy facility, Dr. Weller insisted my father still received reports from the bunker, which its inhabitants had referred to as the City Below. From what we understood, a true utopia existed in the City Below, each of the sections designed for storage having morphed into its own separate entity, all of them working
together to make the bunker one strong unit.
It was the dream of seeing this City Below that convinced me to keep fighting to survive. I considered killing myself for the betterment of the rest of humankind; without Jonas blood, the Aviary Blast would die with me. Instead, Dr. Weller assured me The Board could never reach me in the City Below, that we would go there and make certain to keep ourselves separate from the evils of The Mountain, that our combined leadership experience could transform the City Below into a stronghold.
As we made our way to the tunnel—sneaking past The Board’s spies along the way—an alarm eventually sounded and we barely made it to one of the carts in the tunnel. We sped through tunnel, but our cart ran on batteries that eventually drained. But Dr. Weller had had the wherewithal to bring explosive chemicals that he used to blow a section of tunnel behind us. When I questioned whether we wanted to cut off The Mountain from the City Below forever, Dr. Weller made a very good point.
“We don’t know how we’ll be received in the City, but it’s better than me being tortured for information about the Aviary Blast and you being poked and prodded and bled by scientists who don’t know what they’re doing.”
Dr. Weller blew the tunnel behind us with no time to spare. That was when I recognized the section of tunnel we were in and discovered the tunnel leading to my family’s ISU.
Inside, we found our hidden supply bunker (the Jonas-family ISU being the only one that possessed such a bunker) fully intact and still well stocked with freeze-dried food, water, and equipment to repair the ISU, not that repairs were needed. The Jonas ISU was built with higher quality to last far longer than the others.
Though I’m tempted to remain in my ISU forever, I don’t want to know what ISU-Ville will eventually look like. Besides, Dr. Weller and I both agree that a better future awaits us in the City Below. Now that we’re well rested, we will continue our journey in the tunnel. With that said, I leave this account for anyone who finds this ISU. I hope it finds you in good health and I hope it somehow finds The Mountain, ISU-Ville and the City Below all in good standing, as my grandfather would’ve wanted.
SCRAP OF PAPER WITH HANDWRITTEN MESSAGE AT THE BACK OF THE FOLDER
I have very little time so I will make this as brief as I can; if Dr. Weller discovers me writing this, I may not make it out of this ISU with my life. He’s busy reading the other version to ensure the truth as HE sees fit. I may be risking my life by writing this for no reason—he plans to blow another section of tunnel farther ahead to cut off this ISU from the City Below—but I don’t want to imagine the changes he’s making in the previous version.
A few facts:
1) My father is, in fact, dead after a dispute with The Board, but I suspect he didn’t die of his own accord. Dr. Weller saved me from The Board as much as he hid me for his own benefit. Though he did free me to escape The Mountain, I have a haunting suspicion that he’s the one who murdered my father. I believe that for one very simple reason, which leads me to. . .
2) Dr. Weller has been working for The Board for many years. He’s always considered himself the ‘brains’ of their operation. Father always accused him of being a petty, tiny man, whose genius was only matched by his insanity.
3) Dr. Weller always preferred the stronger version of Blast and had pushed for increased human testing despite the side effects. My father convinced him to tone it down, but Weller had 2.0 ready as soon as the villagers showed the first sign of needing something stronger.
4) My father used Dr. Weller’s sense of paranoia against him in the process of creating the Aviary Blast. Weller tried convincing my father to use more than just Jonas blood as the template for the Aviary Blast, but my father convinced him that having such a secret would allow him to hold power over The Board.
5) The Board didn’t steal the only supply of Aviary Blast; Dr. Peters willingly gave it to them. Dr. Weller also willingly injected a member of The Board with 2.0, thus turning him into a monster.
6) Dr. Weller didn’t destroy all of his research as claimed in the other account of our escape. He made sure The Board could easily discover the importance of Jonas blood to let them know he’d gotten the better of them.
7) Dr. Weller and I did not merely sneak out. He killed at least one innocent guard along the way, maybe more. When I mentioned the idea of killing myself to destroy the Jonas bloodline—and thus the Aviary Blast template—forever, he refused to let me.
I’m certain there are more details I’m missing, but I’ve already written too much and I have little time before I’m discovered. I don’t know what the future holds for me or Dr. Weller, for the City Below or The Mountain, for those injected with Blast 2.0 or those soon to be injected with the Aviary Blast, for the future of humankind and the Earth as a whole. I suppose I could end my life the first opportunity I get; or maybe I will try to make life work in the City Below. Either way, I hope someone finds this note one day; that’ll mean the world is still capable of sustaining human life, a scenario for which I am less and less hopeful with every passing year.
Signed,
Horace Jones
One final note: Dr. Weller knows that his name is unknown to those living in the City Below, and his lust for power will not allow that. Though the following suggestion he made to me is based on “maintaining the integrity and safety of the Jonas bloodline” (his words), I am more than happy to agree to his terms. I don’t possess the forward-thinking of my grandfather or the leadership ability of my father. I’m sure our arrival in the City Below will make us the center of attention for a short time, but after being saddled with the Jonas last name for my entire life, a life of relative anonymity might not be such a bad thing. It is for that reason that I’ve agreed to Dr. Weller’s insistence that the two of us will switch names when we introduce ourselves to the citizens Below.
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Thanks so much for checking out book three of the Great Blue Above series. If you liked it, I would appreciate if you could leave a quick review on Amazon or a rating on Goodreads. I’ve found that having more reviews is the best way for readers to give new authors a chance. Thanks again!
While waiting for new books in the Great Blue Above series, please check out some of my other books.
THE GREAT BLUE ABOVE SERIES
BOOK ONE – THE CITY BELOW
BOOK TWO – THE DOME OF LIFE
BOOK THREE – THE BATTLE ABOVE
BOOK FOUR – BEFORE THE NOTHINGNESS
BOOKS FIVE COMING SOON. . .
LIFE, INC.—If you could learn the exact moment of your death, would you? If you could see a deceased loved one for one more day—at the cost of one year of your life—would you? These are the answers Life, Inc. wants to know . . .
COMET CLEMENT SERIES (A deadly comet hurtling towards Earth and humanity’s plans to deal with the potential extinction level event)
BOOK ONE—THE INNER CIRCLE
BOOK TWO—INTERCEPTION
BOOK THREE—THE NEW SPACE RACE
BOOK FOUR—THE THREE ARKS
BOOK FIVE—EVACUATION EARTH
BOOK SIX—FINAL DAYS
BOOK SEVEN—IMPACT
BOOK EIGHT—UNINVITED
BOOK NINE—TAKEOVER
BOOK TEN—MISSION: SURVIVAL
BOOK ELEVEN—RELOCATION
BOOK TWELVE—A SECOND CHANCE (final in series)
CRYO-MAN SERIES (A sick man dies and is put into cryo-stasis. He awakens years later to a brand-new world and is on a quest to recover his memories.)
BOOK ONE—CRYO-MAN
BOOK TWO—ROBOTROPOLIS
BOOK THREE—DEARBORN
BOOK FOUR—BEYOND RIVER CITY (final in series)
KEEPER OF THE WATER SERIES (A young girl with unexplained strength and speed dreams of a past life and soon learns why. . .)
DRINKING LIFE—BOOK ONE
RECRUITS—BOOK TWO
/> THE WATER QUEENS—BOOK THREE
FLEA’S FIVE CHRISTMASES SERIES
THE NORTH POLE CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 1ST X-MAS
THE RUDOLPH CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 2ND X-MAS
THE JACK FROST CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 3RD X-MAS
THE FROSTIE CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 4TH X-MAS
THE SOUTH POLE CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 5TH AND FINAL X-MAS
EDDIE AND JEREMY SERIES
EDDIE AND JEREMY GO TO THE AQUARIUM—BOOK ONE
EDDIE AND JEREMY GO TO THE NORTH POLE—BOOK TWO