The Vernal Memory: A Dystopian Sci-fi Novel (The Variant Saga Book 4)

by JN Chaney

  No matter. Lena Sol would have to be the voice in their ear. The last voice of a fallen city.

  After only a few seconds, Lena had access to Everlasting’s control system. “Are you in?” she asked her accomplice.

  “I am,” said Jinel.

  “Begin instructing all occupants to evacuate through the seventh precinct’s tunnel. Send the following coordinates.”

  “I have it,” she said. “Sending now.”

  Lena sent commands to multiple offices at once all across Everlasting. Never before had she worked so quickly and with such fervor, but if ever there was a time for such a thing, it was now, here in this awful place.

  The building shook. “We must hurry!” snapped Lena.

  “Districts five through seventeen are evacuating,” followed Jinel.

  “Eighteen through twenty-seven are as well,” said the analyst.

  They continued, accessing each and every channel, sending orders to every citizen who could hear them.

  The floor beneath them shuddered, tilting slightly. “It’s happening!” shouted Jinel.

  “I haven’t finished!”

  Jinel took her by the wrist. “There’s no time, Lena Sol! If we don’t go now, the Citadel will crash with us inside.”

  “But—”

  “Now!” shouted Jinel, pulling her away from the console.

  They ran through the hall together, passing empty corridors and bays where there had once been hundreds of workers and analysts. Lena’s entire life of service.

  The structure shook violently, like it was alive, knocking them both to the floor.

  A nearby wall shook, dislodging a piece of lighting on the ceiling. It fell, landing slightly beside Lena. Her eyes went wide with fear.

  “Get up!” ordered Jinel, snapping her out of it.

  “Right,” muttered Lena, staring at the object that had nearly crushed her.

  They kept moving to the exit, their progress made difficult by the shaking tower.

  The light from outside shone through the outer doors as they rounded the final corridor. “We’re nearly there!” yelled Jinel.

  Right as they neared the final stretch, another tremor overtook them, sending Lena to the floor.

  Jinel hit the wall, still on her feet. As Lena struggled to stand, she heard her friend scream. “Move!”

  The soldier knocked her forward, sending her out of the way of a falling piece of debris—a series of blocks used to separate the floors. “Jinel!”

  “I’m okay!” she said, but the debris had filled the space between them, separating one from the other.

  “Can you get through?” asked Lena.

  “No, there’s too much,” she answered. “I’ll have to find another way out.”

  “But the Citadel could fall before you make it!”

  “I’ll be fine. Get to the ship, quickly! You must not delay!”

  “But—”

  “Do as I say, Analyst!” ordered Jinel.

  “Keep your implant open and let me know when you’re out. We’ll retrieve you.”

  “Go now!” she demanded.

  Reluctantly, Lena fled, leaving the facility the way she had arrived. When she found the landing platform, everyone was already waiting inside the Red Door. “Where’s Jinel?” asked Terry.

  “She’s inside,” explained Lena. “She couldn’t get out, but she’s going to another exit. We have to wait for her.”

  “I don’t know if there’s time,” said Emile from the cockpit.

  The tower trembled, tilting slowly as its power continued to fail. The Citadel was going down, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

  ******

  Jinel Din sat inside the crumbling tower, her back against the wall, waiting for the inevitable. She had no intention of getting out of here. If Lena Sol had taken a moment to consider the situation, she would have realized that the nearest exit was too far removed from this location to be of any use.

  Jinel let out a long sigh behind her breathing mask. Pity it had to turn out this way, she thought.

  “Jinel, can you hear me?” came a voice. It was the analyst, by the sound of it.

  “I’m here,” said Jinel Din.

  “We are in the air. Did you find a way out?”

  “Not quite, no,” she answered, staring at the fallen chunks of ceiling beside her. “I’m afraid there’ll be no escape for me this time.”

  “What are you talking about? I thought you had a way out of there?”

  “I only told you that to get rid of you,” said Jinel.

  “But—”

  “There’s no time for arguments,” she told her. “Go with your friends. It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not!” shouted Lena Sol. “You can’t give up so easily! What sort of thing is that for a woman like you to do?”

  The tower drifted, beginning its descent. She could feel the momentum. “A practical one, I’m afraid.”

  “What about your people? What about Garden? Without you, they’ll—”

  “Need someone else,” she finished. “You’ll do a fine job of that, Lena Sol. I have confidence.”

  “I’m no commander! Jinel Din, you mustn’t do this!”

  “It is already done, Analyst.”

  On the other end of the line, she could hear the girl choking on her words, trying to solve the situation with syllables and sentences, but there was no getting out of this. Not anymore. “You listen to me now, Lena Sol, and you listen with intent.”

  “I-I am,” stuttered Lena.

  Jinel took a long breath. “You must be strong now, do you understand? Stronger than you ever have been, for our people will need your experience and intelligence. They will need your strength to show them the way.”

  “I’m not that person. I—”

  “You are, Lena Sol. I have seen it. Whatever you were when I met you, back when you were nothing but a junior analyst—that’s not you, anymore. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes,” said Lena.

  “Goodbye, Lena Sol,” said Jinel Din, and she switched off the signal from her implant.

  The tower broke, cracking at its core, knocking Jinel against the wall. Through the nearest window, which overlooked the cityscape, she could see the fires rising high.

  “Better on your feet,” the soldier told herself, and she struggled to stand. She gripped her rifle, holding it close to her chest, watching as the buildings came rapidly upon her, growing larger as the tower fell.

  Jinel Din removed her mask, tossing it to the floor, and she took a breath of the toxic gas that now consumed everything. It burned like fire in her lungs.

  She stared out at the oncoming sight before her, at the imminent doom that was fast approaching, riding the Citadel itself into perfect oblivion.

  A stern, full smile spread across her face.

  Despite everything, she had to admit, this was one hell of a way to die.

  CHAPTER 18

  Documents of Historical, Scientific, and Cultural Significance

  Open Transcript 616

  Subtitled: The Memoires of S. E. Pepper – Epilogue, added posthumously

  March 19, 2268

  PEPPER: There is no greater joy in the history of the world, no better moment in a person’s life, than when they hold their child for the first time. If it isn’t already known, let me say now that such a feeling is doubled when it is your grandchild.

  My daughter Julia likes to say I’ve entered my golden years, as though this is something new for me. I’ve had grey hair now for two decades, I tell her, but she insists that no, I’m only getting there now because I’m finally a grandparent. Maybe she’s right. I must admit I have a newfound sense of comfort, staring in the eyes of our little Ava.

  She is, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. How happy I am that I could live long enough to see her.

  And I’ve been lucky. Much more than most.

  To survive the end of the world and still live long enough to
meet this tiny, little thing with arms and toes and eyes. To see that even after Armageddon, life can still go on. Humanity can survive.

  My Julia and her darling Ava are part of that, I know. They are, not what the world is, but what it has the potential to become. They’re all my hopes and fears, my intimate desires, my waking dreams.

  In all my days, I have loved only a few as fully as I do them, and I have enjoyed these moments. Despite everything else, I am happy with what I was given. Somehow, here in this city, so far below the surface, nearly a century after the world was killed, I can say with all my heart that I lived a full and brilliant life.

  And it was enough. It was good.

  So, I think…I think I’m ready to see my father again, if all the fairy tales are true.

  And I hope that they are, despite my doubts, because I’d like to tell him about all of this…about my sweet, beautiful girls and the joy they’ve given me. I want to tell him that everything turned out okay, after all.

  Whatever place he’s in…if it’s really there like they say…then, it must be something beautiful, don’t you think?

  It must be something wonderful.

  End Audio File

  The Red Door

  April 3, 2351

  Terry watched the Citadel fall into the city, slamming into several buildings, creating a massive explosion of fire and dust. The entire center of Everlasting was engulfed in it, consumed by the tower’s destruction. The sheer magnitude of it sent a shockwave so strong it nearly knocked him back.

  He could only hope the civilians had escaped in time.

  “I’m taking us out of the city!” shouted Emile, dipping the aircraft to the east.

  They flew across the burning landscape. Terry watched through the window as smoke and rain filled most of the sky.

  As they reached the evacuation area, he saw thousands of people running to get away from the city. Each wore a filtration mask to guard against Variant. Would they have to wear those things for the rest of their lives now? Without the protection of the domeguard to shield them from the gas, they might have no other choice.

  Ludo, Ysa, Lena, John, and Mei each sat in the cabin beside him, with Emile Res in the forward pilot seat. They had come so far, each of them. So far alone and then together—half a dozen paths converging into this one moment.

  But Jinel was gone, and so were many others, lost along the great path, never to walk beside him again. Their loss would eat at him, he knew. He would never be rid of it. But that was okay, because he didn’t want to lose them. He didn’t want to give up his grief.

  The Red Door landed in the field outside Everlasting, not far from where the surviving citizens had gathered. Lena disembarked from the ship first, followed by the others. She ran to the crowd, telling them to head to the shore.

  Ludo and Ysa helped, and while many Everlastians were surprised to see the two natives, all sense of discomfort and bigotry they might have felt quickly melted away. The husband and wife led the crowd forward, guiding them through the wilderness.

  John remained in the aircraft with Mei, tending to her as best he could.

  Over the next few hours, the crowds migrated to the beach, slowly moving through the rocky hills and woods outside the city. These people were unaccustomed to traversing rough terrain, having spent their entire lives comfortably inside Everlasting. It made them slow and clumsy.

  A few hours after most of the civilians arrived at the shoreline, John and Mei departed on the ship to return to their camp in an effort to gather supplies. With any luck, Central would be able to deliver some relief to the now homeless Everlastians.

  Still, there was the issue of survival. In a world as violent as Kant, Terry couldn’t help but wonder how such an out-of-touch people could ever hope to endure. Not without some serious adjustment on their part.

  Perhaps with a little help, they could do it. We’ll see, thought Terry, but he tried to stay optimistic.

  The Red Door lifted off the ground, and he waved farewell to John and Mei as they left the crowded beach behind. Hux would not arrive for a few days, but once he did, they’d have a little more help.

  Everyone would have to come together if they hoped to save these people. Even then, it might not be enough.

  ******

  Bravo Gate Point

  April 3, 2351

  Mei arrived, disembarking as fast as her feet would let her. She ran straight from the Red Door to her CHU, ready to change out of these awful clothes and shower. As much as the rain had washed away, she could still feel the blood on her.

  John gave her some space while she took care of herself. Somehow, he seemed to know she needed it. And she did.

  The image of Gel’s body was still fresh in her mind, and while she wanted nothing more than to be with John right now, she also wanted to get this stench off her body. The scent of that room, the scent of the blood.

  After scrubbing herself down for what must have been an hour, she emerged in new clothes and damp hair to find John waiting patiently with Sophie.

  The assistant leapt to her feet, running to embrace her. The action surprised Mei, but she wrapped her arms around the girl and returned the hug. “Welcome back, Doctor Curie,” said Sophie.

  “Thank you,” she answered.

  “Sergeant Finn just told me everything. I knew you were alive. I just knew it.” The girl’s smile was bigger than Mei had ever seen it.

  “I’m just glad to be back,” said Mei.

  “Shall I call the rest of the team together?”

  “Not yet,” said Mei. She wasn’t in the mood for the attention. In fact, she would have given anything to go and lie down in her bed right now, but that wasn’t going to happen. Tired as she was, she knew where to put her priorities. “Tell me everything that’s happened since I left.”

  “Yes, ma’am! Oh, you’ll be happy to know I kept working after you left. On the inoculations, I mean to say.”

  “On Lanrix?” asked Mei.

  Sophie nodded. “Yes, that’s it. I wanted to have something to show you when you returned.”

  “Oh, Sophie. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help, but I heard about the work you did, and I’m proud of you.”

  “You already know?” asked Sophie, a little disappointed.

  “Yes. They let it slip when I was there. How much have you synthesized?”

  “Several hundred doses to date, but more are on their way from Central as we speak.”

  “That many?” asked John.

  “An impressive amount, but not enough for what we need,” said Mei. “That crowd numbered in the thousands. Maybe more.”

  “They have their masks. They can wait while you get more,” he answered.

  Mei nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”

  “Hux’s ship should be there in three or four days. How much can you make by then?” asked John.

  “Who is Hux?” asked Sophie.

  “It’s a complicated story, but he’s some kind of pirate or ship captain. I’m not really sure,” said John. “But he has a large crew who can help us with distribution.”

  “I see,” said Sophie. “Well, in any case, you said three or four days? I believe we can make several hundred doses by that time.”

  “I’ll be here to help,” said Mei.

  “You two do your thing. I’m off to regroup with the Blacks. We’ll need to start lifting food and supplies to the survivors. Sophie, you think you can open a channel up to Central for me?” asked John.

  “Indeed, I can, Sergeant Finn,” said the assistant, smiling. “Anything for bringing Doctor Curie back to us.”

  ******

  “Alright, boys,” said John. “Let’s get this cargo on the ship and head out.”

  “You sure this is right, Boss?” asked Track, looking over a package of miracle fruit, which had originally been a gift from Everlasting to Central.

  “Yep, we’re sending it back. Accept it,” he answered.

  Track frowned. “But I like this s
tuff so much. Can we have a quick bite?”

  “Are you trying to take food out of starving mouths?” asked Short. “I’m shocked, Track.”

  “Hey, they only just evacuated. They’re not starving yet!”

  John smacked the crate. “Even still, they’ll need it. Get this package on the ship, ASAP.”

  Track sighed. “You got it, Boss.”

  They had to move supplies in shifts, with the Red Door constantly moving. Emile claimed not to mind the extra work. She took brief naps when she wasn’t in the air. After nearly a full day of back-and-forth, the Blacks had dropped most of Bravo Point’s food.

  It was exhausting work for everyone, but no one complained when it came to saving lives.

  John found Terry and Lena helping Ludo and the others in the field near the shore. “Sorry I couldn’t join you guys sooner, but the day’s been wearing on me,” he told his friend.

  “Not to worry,” said Terry. “We’ve had our hands full, too.”

  “Do you have a headcount yet?” asked John.

  Terry glanced at the crowds. “There’s no way to know, but I’d say we’re dealing with tens of thousands. More are showing up every hour, though. Who knows how many we’ll have when it’s all said and done.”

  “There were hundreds of thousands in Everlasting,” said Lena.

  “With any luck, we’ll have most of them here,” said Terry.

  John hoped so, but given the sheer destruction in the city, he had his doubts. Master Gel’s tower had obliterated most of what remained of the bustling metropolis. No doubt, many had been killed in the blast. “Any sign of Garden or ranking city officials yet?”

  Lena shook her head. “A few lower end military personnel, but no one of note,” she said. “The Leadership is gone. I suspect most of Garden is, too.”

  “What makes you say that?” asked John.

  “Gel attacked their last remaining stronghold. Most of them were killed.”

  “All those people,” muttered John.

  Lena handed a piece of fruit to a nearby woman and her child. “There you are,” she told them, smiling warmly.

  “We’ll have the first batch of inoculations here tomorrow. Mei is getting them ready as we speak,” said John.