by Lucy Adler
If that’s what he’s ‘rustling up’, I think I’d rather starve.
There were a few comfy-looking armchairs at the back of the room beside a cosy fireplace, and several potted plants scattered around the space as well. An elaborate, antique brass light fixture hung from the ceiling, casting its light over the table where they decided to sit and wait for their food. It was large enough for eight or ten people, and already prepared with silverware and napkins.
Daria still couldn’t figure out how to make sense of the eclectic furnishings.
“What is this place?” she finally asked Jake.
“It’s whatever it needs to be. Clarence will feed you, clothe you, even give you a place to sleep for a few nights if you’re stuck. He’s got some gas tanks at the back for filling up traditional cars, and even stocks firewood for the winter. These kinds of places are common in rural areas, where people don’t have access to all of the ‘gifts’ of Progress!” he laughed.
“Is he a sleeper?” she whispered.
“No. But he’s sympathetic.”
“So he’s on Sendrax, then?”
“Oh yeah! That’s one ‘gift’ that the Advanced Cities have made sure to share with the rest of the world. In fact, Clarence stocks that, too.”
It took a little while but eventually the old man came out to their table carrying a large silver tray. On it were three plates piled high with mashed potatoes and swimming in baked beans.
“It’s not what you’re used to in the city,” he apologised as he set it down in front of them, “but I hope it’ll fill ya up.”
“It’s perfect!” Daria said with a smile. Despite his warmth and kindness, there was something in his eyes that made her feel like Clarence wasn’t well. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
“This is a lovely... what should I call this place?” she asked.
“Home!” the old man replied with gusto. “Or at least, that’s how I hope people feel when they’re here! I guess you could say it’s what they used to call a ‘general store’ back in the Former Days.”
Then Clarence picked up the tray and abruptly left the table. Daria had a few more questions but she figured he must not be very chatty.
“This is surprisingly good,” Brix said, her mouth full of potatoes and beans. “It looked nasty, to be honest. But I’m enjoying it!”
“This is your first ‘non-enhanced’ meal, isn’t it?” Jake replied. “Everything tastes better out here!”
While her friends kept talking, Daria watched as Clarence returned to his position behind the counter. He stood relatively still, staring off through the front windows of the store, like he was waiting for something. As she continued to watch him, she began to sense something. Like a low, humming sound, as if the air in the room were vibrating. Then the old man reached down and picked up a tablet, just like the ones they used in Progress, and started tapping and swiping the screen. After a few minutes, he put it back and resumed his staring. She felt the humming lessen but it didn’t cease.
“So they have tablets out here?” she asked Jake.
“Yeah, why?”
“I just saw Clarence using one.”
“Tablets are fairly common everywhere. Keeps people connected with whatever is going on in the Advanced Cities.”
“Wait a minute,” Brix suddenly interrupted, “how are we going to pay for this?”
“It’s ok. We share food and other things with him from the settlement, to help keep this place in business. So he lets us eat here for free when we’re passing through.”
They eventually finished their meal and thanked Clarence for his hospitality before continuing their journey.
“Great to see you again,” Jake said, shaking his hand. “Unfortunately, we should really keep moving. Until next time!”
“Safe travels!” the old man said, tipping his hat just as he had when they arrived.
Daria looked into his eyes a second or two longer. They were staring right at her, yet they seemed unfocused at the same time. There was something almost robotic about him, like he was following some kind of ‘protocol’. Like he was... hollow.
And then there was that humming. Quiet but constant.
Am I actually hearing something? Maybe it’s just my head.
I’m probably still coming down from that crazy translocation. Forty-eight hours of sleep... sheesh.
They were leaving anyway, so Daria decided not to think any more about it. She just smiled and waved goodbye.
____________________________
The scenery continued to be mostly rocky and barren as they headed down the road They passed one or two other traditional cars along the way, but for the most part there weren’t many signs of life across the landscape.
That didn’t matter too much to Daria, though. A strenuous hike, a heavy meal, and then a long car ride? It was the perfect recipe for a nap. And she was out cold on the back seat.
____________________________
A field.
It stretched out beyond the horizon in every direction. Daria couldn’t see where it ended.
Just row after row...
Overflowing with flowers.
Yellow.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
Too many colours to count, let alone all the different shades of each colour.
It was stunning.
She knelt down and ran her fingers through their soft, velvety petals.
She could smell them, too. Each one releasing a sweet-smelling fragrance that both relaxed and excited her at the same time.
She stood up and breathed in deeply, turning slowly as she did.
She leaned her head back and smiled at the warmth of the sun shining down upon it all.
She felt perfectly content.
Then, as she continued turning, allowing her senses to rejoice in her surroundings, she began noticing something.
It was faint and distant.
Like a thin haze on the horizon.
And it was approaching her.
It grew darker and darker, the closer it came.
Like a wisp of cloud, it swirled and rolled over the landscape.
And it left a trail behind it. An inky, smearing trail that seemed to drip and run down from the path it cut through the air.
As the droplets settled on the flowers, the flowers absorbed them, taking on the appearance of the cloud itself.
A swirling black streak through the colourful field.
When the cloud had passed her by, Daria knelt down to touch one of the ink-stained flowers.
She reached out to run her fingers through its petals.
But as she came in contact with them, the flower began to crack, as if it were a fragile shell.
Then it shattered and collapsed into a hundred tiny pieces, releasing a nauseating stench along with it.
7
Month: 4 | Day: 8 | Year: 60
THE GATES
“Hey, Dashy, time to get up.”
Daria blinked a few times. Then she realised that they had stopped driving. The doors were open on the vehicle and she could hear voices outside. She also felt a chill as the cold, fresh air passed over her.
“Brrr,” she muttered, her teeth chattering a little as she sat up and rubbed her arms to warm herself.
It had been cool for most of the journey, but now it was just plain cold. The sun was lower in the sky and the grey cloud cover looked like a smudged reflection of the white snow that blanketed the hills around them.
“Is this the North Pole or something?” she said, her voice a little gravelly.
“Jake said this is one of the Gates.”
“How long was I out?”
“About two hours,” Brix said. Then she waved her hand for Daria to get moving. “Come on, let’s meet these guys.”
They were parked in front of an odd, angular structure. There were no walls, only four steep gables supported by posts and long wooden beams. Jake stood beneath it talking to a group o
f five or six other people. They looked like they were smiling and laughing.
“You must be Daria!” one of the strangers said, breaking away from the group to greet her. “Or are you Daria?” the girl asked, pointing at Brix.
“Nope, you were right the first time!” Jake corrected her as he came over to join them.
“I’m so happy to finally meet you!” she said.
Daria replied with an awkward smile. Her mind was still catching up after her long nap.
“Hey,” she finally said with a nod. “What’s your name?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m Livy,” the girl said. They shook hands, then she gave Daria a big hug. “I’m just so glad you’re here!”
Jake must have caught the confused look on Daria’s face as they hugged each other.
“Livy is the one that had the vision when you were taken away to the Institute,” he explained. “She’s the one that told us you were in trouble.”
“Oh, wow! Hey!” Daria said again, greeting her a second time as she suddenly felt a closer bond between them. “Thanks for that!”
“It wasn’t me!” the girl laughed. She seemed like she might be a little older than Daria, but maybe only by a year or two. A few strands of blonde hair stuck out from under the red knitted ski cap that covered her head. Her grey eyes were soft, like the fluffy snow all around them. “I just passed along what I saw. Jake and Corey and the rest of the group are the real heroes!”
“Are they here? Have you guys heard from any of them?”
Livy looked apologetic as she shook her head. “Not yet. But I’m sure they’ll make it out. Don’t worry.”
Daria rubbed her arms again and shivered. The sun was starting to disappear over the horizon and the temperature was dropping.
“Oh my gosh, you guys must be freezing!” Livy said. “I should have done this first.” She called out to someone standing by a small shed-like building. “Grab the duffel!”
A tall guy in a dark brown sweater and black snow pants came jogging over to them carrying a bag with him.
“Here, we’ve got something for you,” he said, kneeling down and unzipping it. He pulled out two puffy jackets, one yellow, one purple. “These are goose down. You’ll never be cold again!” he laughed.
Brix snatched the yellow one and Daria put on the purple one as quickly as she could. They zipped them up to the very top then sighed with relief.
“Oooh, that’s nice!” Brix said with smile. “I’m Brianna, by the way,” she added, reaching out to shake hands with the tall dark stranger.
“Brett,” he replied with a smile of his own. His messy hair matched his sweater, as did his scruffy beard and mocha brown eyes.
Daria stifled a laugh.
Brianna? Oh dear.
Then something dawned on her.
“Wait a minute!” she interrupted. “You said Brett? You used to lead the walk up to the cabin, right?”
“That’s right!” he replied. “How did you know?”
“Just something I remembered Julia saying. She also said you brought their little group together.”
“Yup. I picked them out to make up one of our Progress extraction teams. I thought they would work well together.”
“You were definitely right. They’re awesome. I can hardly believe I’ve only known them for a few days! They feel like my best friends now!”
Daria caught herself as she said the words. She glanced over at Brix.
“I’m sorry!” she whispered. “I didn’t mean --”
“Oh, please, Dashy!” Brix laughed, blowing her off with a wave of her hand. “I’m not that delicate!” Then she stepped a little closer to Brett. “So, we gonna hang out in the middle of the road all night or are you guys gonna take us somewhere warm?”
Daria laughed to herself.
Shameless!
____________________________
“Now you see why we have these kinds of trucks!”
They were making their way along what Daria assumed was a road beneath all the snow. There were deep grooves where the other vehicles had passed through ahead of them. They were part of a small caravan of vehicles now, each of them similar to theirs - lifted up, with big tires, and all kinds of ‘gear’ attached to the outside.
“So, the way you guys kept referring to ‘the Gates’, I sorta thought they’d be, you know, gates,” Daria said as the gentle purring sound of tires cutting through snow filled the cabin. “That was kind of anticlimactic back there!” she laughed.
“That was the old East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. There are five in total. That weird building thing you saw was referred to as a ‘gate’. It’s where you used to pay when you visited the park.”
“I’ve heard of Yellowstone before,” Brix said. “We talked about it for a few minutes in History class once. I don’t remember much, though.”
“Well, you won’t have to read about it anymore. You’re in it now.”
Once the wonders of Sendrax took hold of society, and the Progress Guidelines were rolled out across the Advanced Cities, the National Parks began to fall into disuse. It took a few years but eventually as people embraced their ‘true purpose’ in work and productivity, there was no need - or desire - to waste hours just looking at scenery. What was the point? What was there to gain from it? So, by 2046, the government had officially closed the parks for good, leaving the land to wait patiently for the day when the cities would require more room for expansion.
Over the decades, however, certain anti-Sendrax and anti-Progress groups came to see the parks as places of refuge where they could live on their own terms, free from the Guidelines and the rule of the Doctors.
“What are those?” Daria asked, pointing to some low-pitched, circular roofs that poked their heads out of the snow here and there.
“Yurts. They’re like permanent tents, I guess you could say. We all work together out here but some of us like to take advantage of the space and spread out a bit. It’s still another twenty minutes to the main settlement.”
Daria thought they looked cosy and inviting, with gentling curling smoke clouds rising out of their narrow chimneys, and the soft glow of lights from inside.
Lights??
“Wait, how do they have electricity out here?”
“You’ll see. It’s pretty cool. Or hot, actually!”
The road turned right and skirted the edge of a huge clearing off to the left.
“That’s one giant field,” Brix said, staring off over the unbroken sea of white.
“That’s a lake.”
“What?!”
“It freezes over, sometimes for half the year.”
Daria leaned over her friend to look out at the icy expanse.
“Can you walk on it?” she asked.
“Depends on the season, depends on the ice. But yeah, sometimes.”
A little while later, they left the lake behind as their caravan continued north through a stretch of forest, until they came to another wide clearing. It wasn’t nearly as flat as the lake but its low, undulating hills gave it an inviting, hospitable feel - which was probably why this was the heart of the settlement.
They turned off the road onto a narrow track that had been cut through the snow. It led across a bridge that forded an icy river, then it continued on a few hundred metres to a ‘neighbourhood’ of wooden buildings that looked like nicer, newer versions of the one where they had met Clarence earlier that day.
“This is ‘downtown’,” Jake said with a laugh as he pointed at them. “A few hundred people - maybe half of the community - live around here. It’s also where we stockpile food and other resources.”
The settlement was small enough that you could see all of it from the road, but large enough that Daria didn’t bother trying to count the buildings. Most of them were two storeys and clad in either wood siding or shingles that were painted in blues, reds, yellows, and greens. It looked like a rainbow had fallen from the sky and dyed the white landscape. It was actually quite che
erful.
Their caravan came to a stop in front of the largest of the buildings. It was taller than the rest, with a third storey on top and what looked like an attic above that. It also had a huge porch running along the front that reminded Daria of the cabin. It put her at ease as they exited the trucks and went inside.
“Welcome, welcome!” a man called to them as Daria, Brix, Jake, and the group that had met them at the gate took turns removing their jackets and snow-covered shoes in the entryway. After he and Jake exchanged some small talk about their trip, Jake introduced him to the girls.
“This is Brianna Saxon, but you can call her Brix.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” the man said, greeting her with a gentle handshake and a genuine smile.
“And this is Daria Grayson.”
“An honour,” he said, taking her hand in both of his and nodding his head.
Daria suddenly remembered Dr. Reston using the same word when he first welcomed her to the Institute. But despite looking roughly the same age as the doctor, there was definitely something different in this man’s eyes and tone. She knew he meant it.
He was wearing a hat, so Daria couldn’t tell what colour his hair was, but he had a bit of stubble that was an equal blend of black and grey. Even with a few wrinkles here and there, he had a definite air of youthfulness about him. And his bright blue eyes radiated kindness.
“This is Marcus Jensen,” Jake said, introducing him.
“Nice to meet you,” Daria said. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, Jensen? As in, Elliot Jensen?”
“He was my father. And I’m guessing they told you a lot of terrible stuff about him, eh?”
“Oh, you know, just the usual. They said he resisted Sendrax and all the changes in society. I think the exact words were ‘senseless acts of destruction and brutality,’ if I remember right.”
Marcus rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“It’s amazing that the Institute sits there in broad daylight, churning out lies, and nobody seems to care,” he said. “They’re rewriting history from only thirty or forty years ago - things that happened so recently, it’s barely even old enough to be called ‘history’!”