by John Corwin
"Get what you need, Constable?" Olga looked curiously at the duffel bag.
"Hopefully." He put on an easy smile. "Doubt it'll amount to much, but at least it keeps me busy."
The marshal chuckled. "I reckon it's a lot more excitement than I see around here." She waved. "Father bless."
"You too." Max rode back down Main Street into Central and took a right on Alderman Street, the road that bisected City 7 from north to south. Once he cleared the civvie housing sector, the gently rolling ranch fields spread out to all sides. A herd of cows looked up curiously from grazing, large brown eyes following him.
Far ahead, the huge gray walls of the perimeter rose up, monolithic guardians from the red sandy wastes outside. The wall dwarfed even the trees of the outer circle, rising hundreds of feet into the air. Max sometimes wondered what powers the founders had to build a place like this, but knew better than to ask.
The past is gone. The future remains.
The downtime during the ride to the airlock cleared his head a bit and made him think back to the last few times he'd seen Sarah. During their dinner a few weeks ago, she'd seemed agitated, worried.
Three Weeks Earlier
"Robb took me to Overlook Tower." Sarah twirled her fork in the mashed potatoes.
Max stopped chewing his tough, gristled beef. "Are you serious?" He washed down the food with water and nearly committed treason with his next question. This is Sarah I'm talking to. She might be a lab coat now, but he could trust her with anything, right?
Then he noticed the moisture gathering in Sarah's eyes and the question died on his lips. "What's wrong, sis? Did he hit you again?"
She shook her head quickly, smiled, and wiped the tear in the corner of her eye. "I'm just angry."
"Angry about going up to Overlook?" He bit his lower lip and the dead question resurrected itself. "Promise you won't report me for asking something."
Sarah sighed. "I'm your sister, Max. Robb Alderman thinking he owns me doesn't change that."
"Fine." Max imagined being at the top of the tallest building in the dome. There were so many rumors about what lay up there. "Does the window exist?"
His sister blinked. Nodded.
Max's breath caught in his throat. "Did you—"
She shook her head.
"Not even a glimpse?"
"It's best you don't even wonder, Max." Tears pooled in her eyes. "Don't make the mistake Mom and Dad made. Don't question the facts. Just live."
Max stepped around the table and hugged Sarah. She'd gotten the worst end of the deal after their parents fed the father. "I'm sorry."
She gripped his arm and buried her face in his chest. "It's all a fucking joke anyway." She pulled away and stood on unsteady feet. Sarah fingered the Science Division token on her lab coat and burst into a fit of laughter. "Sick fucking joke."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Max grabbed for his sister's arms, but she jerked away.
Her eyes widened. "Our bodies are the lie." She picked up her fork and dropped it. "That's the lie."
"You're not making any sense!"
Sarah shook her head as if waking from a nightmare. "It's nothing, Max." She looked away. "I'm off my meds."
That explains it. "You'd tell me if Robb did anything to you, right?"
A sad smiled burrowed its way on her face. "If I did, what good would it do? His daddy owns the dome and everyone in it." Sara kissed her brother on the cheek. "Good night."
Before she left, she stopped at the shelf with a picture of their parents and stared at it for a long time, like she did every time she came by. Max let her have all the time she wanted. It was the only thing he found sacred anymore.
Chapter 3
Present Day
That had been the last time Max had a real conversation with Sarah. The only other time had been when she'd shown up at his office a week ago. He remembered the way she paced the floor, how her lips seemed eager to say something more than small talk. Max assumed she was off her meds again.
Max asked if she wanted to go to lunch, but Sarah told him she'd just stopped in to say hi before returning to the science campus. It sounded like a hasty lie. As if she'd changed her mind at the last moment about admitting something more.
Sarah must have done something stupid while off her meds and gotten her into this mess—that had to be it. A ray of hope beat back some of the dark clouds. Alderman would understand that, right? Maybe this was just to scare her into behaving. Robb wasn't the most pleasant man in the world, but he'd always liked Sarah. Damn it all, Robb was one of the few privileged who was actually allowed to choose his own mate. Why would he let her die when they hadn't even frozen a single embryo?
Another mile ticked past. Rain began to fall to the east on an alfalfa field. Sunlight hit the water from the sprinklers far above, casting a wavering rainbow. Max looked back to the north and saw a flock of sheep migrating across the road, a young ranch hand urging them along.
Max slowed, letting them cross so he wouldn't have to exchange greetings. The boy had probably already seen him crest the last rise, but it wasn't anything too strange to see a city dweller out this far. Many enjoyed an afternoon in the outer lands to escape the grim gray of Central. Several minutes later, a gentle hill swallowed the flock and boy from view and Max continued onward.
After a time, he reached the outer fringe where the forest began. Like the farmlands, it followed the curve of the wall, running around the perimeter of the city.
The city's natural CO2 scrubber, Sarah called it.
This section boasted a selection of hardwoods. Softwoods grew to the east where they were selectively harvested if someone in Luxville decided they needed a new piece of furniture.
Max wheeled beneath the shade of the arching branches overhead. Just a little further. His nerves coiled in anticipation of the destination. His constable badge served as a token that opened the airlock since he was the one assigned to send the convicted to whatever fate lay outside. Maintenance also had a token for the monthly inspections.
The inner door wasn't monitored, but when the middle door leading to the outer airlock opened, alarms rang, and an alert sounded on a panel in the main control room back in Science Division. At least, that's what Barnes told Max when orienting him on his duties as constable.
He hoped the man had told him everything. If opening the inner door alerted anyone, his mission would be cut short. Science marshals would arrive within minutes on high-powered bladewheels, easily capable of outrunning Max's. The thought brought him to a halt and a long moment of silent contemplation. Even if he planted the suit, it would only give Sarah a couple extra hours of life outside. No matter what he did, she was going to die.
Then again, she was the only person Max loved—the only reason to keep on struggling through this hollow existence. All these years he'd been dead inside, but Sarah's pending execution awakened something. He felt alive and terrified, but determined to control at least these final few hours he might have—Science Division be damned.
Max gunned the bladewheel across Perimeter Street, between the rising rows of bleachers, and past the podium where the governor made his execution speeches. Two doors of stainless steel shined within the gray concrete wall, dull blades that severed the doomed from the life-giving dome. Max parked the bladewheel and walked up to the token slot, his heart pounding faster with every step. This was it—the moment of truth.
He unslung his bulky cargo. "Where in the hell am I going to hide this thing?" He'd never looked too long at the inner airlock. Anytime he'd escorted someone in to die, he'd hurried out as quickly as possible. How many had he taken to their deaths? Ten? Eleven? He tried not to remember. Tried not to care.
Seeing the door was like witnessing the instrument of Sarah's death. It was her exit from life to the red hell that lay outside.
Large monitors hung on either side of the door so spectators could witness the horror. As if to prolong the execution for their entertainment, Science
Division usually outfitted the sentenced with a skintight biodegradable suit and clear facemask. They claimed the suit monitored the exiled person's health and the outside air, giving them vital data.
That was why most people chose to feed the daughter. At least they weren't used as a lab rat. At least they went back into the living earth beneath the dome instead of the dead sands outside. Unless convicted of a high crime, most who fed the daughter were also put to sleep with sedatives so they didn't have to experience the horror of being dropped in the grinder.
Max shuddered.
The monitors always showed the same thing: red sand with high dunes far away. A human form struggling to move through the powdery sand. Their heartrate, shown on the monitors, beating faster and faster. The first spasm as they ran out of the meager oxygen in their mask, body doubling over, hands clenched to their chests.
Some tried to rip off the mask, as if by some miracle, they might find breathable air, but their cramping fingers made it all but impossible. Some tried to run toward the dunes in the distance, as if escape lay over that horizon.
In the end, they fell to the ground, chalky dust rising around them, curled into a ball, and died.
The dust-covered remains of those who'd gone before still lay where they'd fallen. His parents made the red sands halfway to the dunes their bed for a final slumber.
Max wondered how the scientists gleaned any useful information from such brutality. Anger lent him the courage he needed to press his badge into the star-shaped slot next to the doors. They slid open with a faint hiss, revealing the inner airlock. The second door led to the outer airlock, and the third, into the deadly world outside.
He looked around at the bare metal room and wondered what came next. Seams where the plates joined to the superstructure offered no purchase for him to pry one off. He'd need tools for that. After looking around for several minutes, he saw something he'd overlooked—a maintenance panel to the right of the door.
A pull on the latch opened it to reveal a space where pipes and thick cables ran behind the wall. There was just enough room to shove the duffel inside and down out of view. Max clicked it shut, took another look around, and left the airlock. Suddenly nervous, his newfound courage fled, he closed the doors and removed his badge, then quickly got back on the bladewheel and headed into town.
Heart pounding, hands trembling, Max wheeled through the ranch lands. Despite his worries, he saw no pursuit or any indication his visit to the airlock had been noticed. Halfway back he saw a woman in the blue coveralls of the mechworks pulling a cart down the road. As he grew closer, he recognized Alicia Fisher.
"Hello, Constable." She stopped and wiped sweat from her forehead. "Ready for this afternoon?"
Max nearly lost his balance. He stopped the bladewheel and got off. "What do you mean?"
She pointed toward the north. "Someone is feeding the father later today. I'm going to check the airlock and make sure everything is good to go."
Nausea sent a shiver through his body. "Do you really think it needs looking at?"
Alicia shrugged. "I got the order an hour ago." She cast an envious look at the bladewheel. "What do you reckon the odds of us getting something like that?"
Max wanted to vomit. What if she went out there and found the duffel bag? Had he hidden it well enough? He couldn't let her go alone. He had to be there to make sure the bag remained hidden.
Before he could make the suggestion of accompanying her, Alicia spoke again. "Oh, by the way, after Administrator Barnes told me about the feeding, he said he was headed your way." She grimaced. "I think he might be waiting at the station."
Max looked north then south toward town. If he didn't go back to the station, that might make Alicia suspicious. Nobody ignored the administrator when he was looking for you. He grasped for some way to dissuade her. "I really think the airlock is okay. It was just checked out at the end of last month."
Alicia pressed her lips together and looked down at the wagon bearing her tools. "It sure would be nice not to make the trek all the way out there."
"Hey, I won't tell if you don't." Max forced a grin. "It's just busy work, and lugging that equipment around has to be tiring."
"Tell me about it." She scratched her head. "Maybe I'll just have an early lunch and enjoy the view for a while."
The sick feeling faded away and Max nearly cried from the relief. "Enjoy yourself. Reckon I'd better get back to the station." He mounted the bladewheel. "Be seeing you."
"Bye, Constable."
A hundred yards down the road, Max looked back and saw Alicia sitting on her wagon cart eating. He sagged with relief. Maybe this crazy plan would amount to something. As soon as he thought it, he remembered Barnes waiting back at the station. He hoped it meant Alderman would see him.
The administrator was just leaving the station when Max rolled up to it. Barnes narrowed his eyes, probably unhappy he'd had to wait on a civvie.
"You nearly missed your opportunity," Barnes said. He looked at the bladewheel. "Put that away and come with me." He nodded his head toward a saucer-shaped four-seater electric cart.
Max nodded. "Just a moment." He carried the unicycle inside and put it on its charger then took a moment to calm his shaky nerves. He noticed Scarlett wasn't back from the south farms yet, so he left her an encrypted message on the magboard.
Meeting with Terrence Alderman. Back soon.
Max went outside and took the seat next to Barnes on the electric cart. The administrator accelerated toward the west down Main Street. Barnes took a left on Central Street, heading south.
Max glanced to the west and back at Barnes. "We're not going to the science campus?"
"The governor is at home today," the administrator replied. "I should be at the lab working on important projects, but instead, this incident with your sister has me running all over the place."
Max's right fist clenched and it took everything he had not to punch the other man. "I'm sorry Sarah's pending execution has been an inconvenience for you."
Barnes stopped the vehicle and turned on Max. "Let's get one thing straight, Planck. Your sister broke the law. She knew the consequences and did it anyway. You can sulk all you like but it's not going to change anything." He blew out a breath of disgust. "You'd think she might have learned from your parents' example. I suppose she wanted to follow in their footsteps."
The skin on Max's face burned. More than anything, he wanted to transfer the heat through his fists to Barnes's head. "My parents were good, brave people."
"They were cowards." Barnes spit the last word. "If humanity is to survive, we have to follow the rules. I'll authorize executions all day long if it means survival." He shook his head and accelerated. "Bravery is following the rules."
"Must be easy to be brave when you're the one making the rules."
"Says the man who became constable because the governor's son took a liking to his sister," Barnes scoffed.
Max gripped the armrest as tight as he could. It was the only thing keeping him from taking a swing at this pompous ass.
"Go ahead and do it." The administrator looked sideways at Max and sneered. "Please, do us all a favor."
Striking an administrator was treason. It suddenly occurred to Max that Barnes was goading him. He wants me dead. If Max hit him, it would be suicide. It was well known the administrator wanted his nephew, Dominic, to be constable. Instead, Alderman gave the duty to a farmhand. At the time, the assignment seemed amazing to Max. Being the constable brought a considerable increase in pay and benefits. Invisible were the puppet strings manipulated at will by people like the administrator.
Barnes wanted to capitalize on Sarah's predicament. When Max was in his twenties, he probably would have decked the jackass without a second thought. Somehow, he'd survived long enough to know better.
Max forced a smirk. "How's Dominic enjoying the mechworks?"
Barnes seemed to realize his tactic hadn't worked and offered no reply. They passed the outer edg
e of the gray communes and reached the tall carbon walls of Luxville. Barnes took a left off Alderman Street and onto Founders Lane. He waved his token at the security reader outside the gate, and the thick gates slid open.
Max didn't understand why Luxville surrounded itself with such security. As far as anyone knew, there had never been a revolution under the dome. Then again, dome history only went back a hundred years or so, and since most people became feeders when they couldn't work anymore, there wasn't anyone alive old enough to know except for the administrators.
For an instant, he fantasized about rallying the civvies to rise up against the administration. What gave them the right to say when people ought to live and die? Why should anyone be punished for simple curiosity?
Barnes drove around the circle, past homes rising two stories. Someone in maintenance once told Max some of the houses even had basements. Behind the ring of houses in the middle, the blue water of a swimming pool was visible. Children's laughter and the sound of splashing water echoed. It almost seemed as if they'd left the dome and entered another world.
At the top of the curve sat a white three-story house. Tall columns supported the wide front porch, and an extravagant oak door sat beneath a balcony with black iron railing. Even the windows had wooden decorations next to them. He'd heard them referred to as shutters—something once used to protect the glass against harsh weather.
The front door alone was probably worth a year's earnings.
Barnes stopped and nodded toward the house. "Go," was all he said. The second Max got off the cart, the administrator drove off and vanished around the curve.
Max stared with breathless awe at the mansion for a moment before he managed to gather his wits and move forward. He'd never been inside Luxville, though Sarah had been plenty of times because of Robb. It made Max's small concrete domicile seem pathetically inadequate. He stepped up to the door and ran a finger along the stained hardwood. Everything in the civvie houses was made of pressed laminate wood. Whenever it broke, the recyclers ground it up and pressed it back into new furniture.