Cobble approached Smoke, “We are trying to prevent anyone else from surfacing from the underground. We can’t trust that any of them would be from that engine you escaped from. Until I have a metal cover I’m going to have guards posted here at all hours. Nobody is getting out without us knowing.”
Smoke smiled, “That’s a good plan. On that note, as promised, I Smoke Callahan hereby revoke my claim as the leader of the Cartel and the fourth below and hereby give the responsibility and perks to Cobble Raw. May you use this power wisely and without corruption.”
“Of course,” Cobble said. “Is there anything I should know before we part ways?”
“What makes you think we’ll be parting ways?” Smoke asked.
“You’ve got a vow to fulfill,” Cobble said, “You’re going to be very busy taking down all who had something to do with that engine. That said, once you’ve gone I am not going to be able to know if you’ve given any orders in that time. I will respect any and all choices you’ve made.”
Smoke placed his hand on Cobble’s shoulder, “I’m pleased to hear that. The only order I’ve given was to hold off until tomorrow afternoon to blow the tower and to give the residence a chance to exit the tower. They will then live among us and adhere to our laws.”
“Seems fair to me,” Cobble said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do.”
24
The lift was a steady stream of people leaving the tower for hours. People dressed in lavish suits and dresses and servants dressed in livery suits. Many looked lost and confused as they stepped from the artificial life of the tower into the fresh air of the outside. Cobble had known many of the inhabitants would choose to remain within the tower, their skins were much more important than their lives and they would die rich rather than live poor. He also knew many would leave the tower if their lives were in danger, this showed him they viewed their lives more important than their posh lifestyles.
“Excuse me?” one of the men from the tower said as he stepped out of the line. “Where are we going to go? You’ve effectively kicked us out of our homes. Now what?”
Cobble frowned, “Follow the line sir, we will be gathering everyone together and explaining what we will be doing after the tower’s exploded. Nobody will be left guessing. Until then, I ask you stay patient and feel grateful we let you know what was going on and allowed you to leave. I wouldn’t have been so generous.”
The man stepped back in line and kept his mouth shut. This was for the best; Cobble knew someone would eventually start asking questions just as well as he knew this man would not be the last to demand answers. So long as they felt their lives were gifted by generosity there was a better chance of them being more workable than if they were greeted with pure hostility or glee. This was a game of will and brains and Cobble intended to win.
He’d always thought the power of officially having the means to command the army of the fourth below would feel great in his hands. Instead all he felt was the same old feeling he’d felt since Smoke left the second time. Duty, responsibility and the knowledge that the lives of everyone he commanded were in his hands. It was everything he’d wanted, and now that he had it through legitimate channels the feelings of responsibility seemed worth it. Before he’d tried to show he was capable, now he could say his efforts had been reciprocated.
The soldiers closed the doors to the steam-powered hydraulic lift and sent it back up the tower. Once the soldiers had taken complete control over the lift there wasn’t a floor they couldn’t reach. Many of the soldiers had expressed discomfort and a feeling of gratitude at a lack of windows on the fourteenth above, the highest point of the tower. Cobble couldn’t imagine being so high in the air. Just looking at the sky was intimidating enough; he didn’t need to imagine seeing the ground from such a height.
“Looks like everything is going accordingly to plan,” Homer said as he entered the tower.
“It does,” Cobble agreed. “I can’t seem to shake this feeling that it was a little too easy. It’s possible that the tower’s defenses were meant to take out small skirmishes or enough to kill enough people from a single floor; thus making it easy to kill their army and bring them all down with the force of a full army.”
Homer leaned against a wall, “Makes sense to me, they probably relied on the fact that none of our men could get into the lift. That would have prevented us from ever getting up there. They didn’t even have to send soldiers to protect the surface lift. If Constance hadn’t have crawled through that vent I don’t think we will have ever gotten in.”
“That’s what I mean though,” Cobble said. “You don’t think that vent being there and being the right size was just a little too convenient?”
Homer shrugged, “I don’t know, nor do I really care. Odds are the vents were forgotten about, or maybe nobody actually thought the opening at the outer layer of the tower was big enough to fit a person. It’s best not to dwell on these things Cobble, We’ve won. That’s what matters.”
Cobble hung his head. Something was not sitting right with him. “I just can’t seem to shake this feeling that it was too easy. We won with minimal casualties, the people of the tower were more than willing to leave to save their own lives, I think only a few families refused to go anywhere. It could just be nothing. It’s probably nothing.”
“Exactly,” Homer said with a smile, “Our men have the boomers in place and are in complete control of the lift. There’s no possible way that will go wrong. Those who chose to stay made their choice. Once the boomers go off it won’t make a difference anymore. You’re paranoid because you just learned about the engine, to be honest; I’m a little on edge as well. We don’t know who the agents are or who we can trust. Supposedly we have a mole in our midst. I know it’s not you; you’ve done nothing but try and win for the underground. That’s a relief. It’s probably Blaze. That would explain his disappearance and why Penelope was able to get down as easily as she did.”
“I hope she makes it,” Cobble said with a glimmer of hope.
“I don’t suspect we’ll know for sure if she succeeded or failed until she resurfaces.”
“Yeah,” Cobble said, not wanting to leave the comment open.
“Come on, the boomers are about to go off,” Homer said with a grin, “Let’s go find a seat and we’ll drink a big mug of ale in celebration. Then it’s all you from there, you’ll officially be running the show here.”
“Let’s just see if this part goes off,” Cobble said looking into the distance, “then we can make plans for the future.”
Smoke sat on the grass with Constance and Blue in anticipation of the explosion that would take down the tower. The only people who knew the exact time of detonation were the soldiers who had placed the boomers; and they weren’t saying a word on the subject.
Constance continued to wear her look of disgust at the situation. She strongly believed the tower shouldn’t be demolished while any living person was still inside. But, a forceful eviction which would take days of soldiers time to bring down people who would have done anything to disrupt the ways of the surface would be nothing more than a waste of time for the soldiers; the law enforcers the town would have to elect the people who would have to deal with the consequences of their actions. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but time was of the essence and nobody wanted to lose the war due to a few bleeding hearts.
Blue watched the tower with anticipation and fear. The tower was the only real home she’d ever known. Though she’d left to escape her family, she would have always known that she could have returned at any time if things had been too difficult. Had the engine missed her or had taken no interest Smoke believed she would have inevitably returned within a few months.
Smoke wasn’t sure how to think or feel about the situation. He believed he had done his best to do right by both the people of the tower and the people of the surface. He wanted to save as many lives as he could while not inhibiting the progress of the revolution. There was no real way
to win in his situation, but if he had the choice to do it again, he’d have made the same choice. Bring down those who wanted to live and hope the rest find peace in whatever afterlife they wind up in.
It was still weird for him to think of the people from the underground as surfacers now, though he could see it in the majority of their faces, they loved the surface and wouldn’t go back to the underground under any circumstances. Those from the tower would have a longer transition time; it was harsher on the surface than the lavish luxury of the tower. Now they’d have to work to survive. They wouldn’t have servants to kick around or slaves to force to do their biddings. This was a world for the individual now, the individual as a part of a community. A world where one got what they worked for and received enough in kind.
An old mousy looking woman walked past the three of them and gave Constance a smile. Constance smiled back and watched as the old woman continued on her way. Smoke didn’t understand the exchange, nor was it for him to understand.
Constance took in a deep breath. “I did something awful,” she said quietly.
Smoke turned his head and gave Constance a look of friendship. “By whose standards?” he asked.
The question was intended to make her smile. That no matter what she did Smoke had done worse. Instead she broke down crying. “I killed a family up there,” she said as she tried to control her sobs. “The old man and his wife put the hit out on my parents and I killed them. I then killed their son and daughter just to prevent anyone from coming to kill me. I can still see their faces…. Smoke?”
Smoke placed his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah?” he said softly.
“Do the images ever go away?” she asked as she looked at him with her tear-soaked eyes.
Smoke pressed his lips together. “No,” he said apologetically. “They never do. You’ll see them always. After a time their images will get moved into the back of your mind, but they will always be there. It’s like losing someone you loved. They’re always there; you just learn to live with it after a time.”
“I don’t want to learn to live with it,” she said angrily. “I want it to go away. I want to be okay again.”
“That’s the price of vengeance,” Smoke said, “You have to live with the knowledge that you are no better than the people you killed. It’s a tough lesson and I wish I’d have known the quest you were on. I’d have talked you out of it.”
Constance sniffled, “I know you would have. I don’t think there would have ever been a way that I would have been okay. If you’d have talked me out of it I’d have never known who or why. But now? I’m not sure which fate is worse.”
“You never will,” Smoke replied, “The best you can do is try and move forward and always keep in the back of your mind that you are not those people. You are not their kind and you did what you had to in order to avenge your family.”
Constance looked down at her feet, “I don’t know if that helped or not.”
The sound of the boomers detonating took Smoke’s and Constance’s attention from their conversation and brought it to the flying rubble being forcibly ejected from the tower. The crowd had sat at a safe distance away from the tower, but even now Smoke wondered if anyone would get pelted by a rogue stone.
They could hear the sound of the heavily weakened stones shattering under the weight of the rest of the tower. The tower began to lean in the opposite direction of the town and soon fell over. The sound of the tower hitting the earth made a boom bigger than Smoke had ever heard. The bricks from the tower fell apart upon impact leaving a line of white bricks and home interior wreckage in a long linear mound.
Smoke didn’t want to think about how many people had lost their lives in the tower as it fell. How many stood stoically as they faced their death or how many prayed to their gods or how many people broke down and begged to be let out only moments after the boomers had gone off. He tried his best to not think of it. They were at war, and in war people die.
“Well,” Blue said with boredom, “that was a little more anticlimactic than I expected.”
“What did you expect?” Constance asked.
Blue shrugged, “I guess I thought the explosion from the boomers would be bigger.”
“Oh I’m sure those explosions were pretty big,” Smoke said. “We just didn’t get to see them because they were inside. The point wasn’t to make a spectacle. It was to bring the tower down. We’ve succeeded in that. We’ve won the war. Officially.”
The destruction of the tower seemed to have truly sunk in as Smoke spoke the words. He could hear people begin to cheer and applaud over what had happened. They were free from those who resided in the tower and the oppression they held over them. This was a great day for the surface world.
Once the cheering had died down Cobble walked to the head of the crowd and spoke. “I had originally planned to have a meeting with everyone in the town, or what would be left of it. I’m glad to see the tower didn’t fall on the town nor did any of the debris wreck anything. But, since everyone is here already I think we will have our discussion now and get it all over with. Is everyone in agreement?”
The crowd cheered in agreement. Smoke smiled as he watched Cobble use his natural charisma to hype the crowd into excitement over the meeting. This place was in good hands. “What’s the first order of business?” a man from the crowd asked.
“First I want to say that the majority of these points have been made by the people who have lived both on the surface and in the underground. Every concern will be addressed here and we can make decisions as a group.
Now, to address those from the tower,” Cobble said with a grin. “Welcome to our town. It’s not very big and with the recent boom of settlers it’s not going to seem very big for a while. But, with some hard work and cooperation we can make our town into a living, thriving and growing community. Now, I know you’re all used to a relaxed lifestyle where you don’t have to do any hard work, or at least hard work with your hands. That’s okay; our people will show you the same patience we would expect in return. Some of us come from backgrounds harder than you could imagine. We are all in this together now.
Second order of business,” Cobble continued, “we will be having elections for leader of the town in two weeks’ time. We will give a week for any who wish to be leader to step forward and from there we will give a week for them to explain why they should lead this town.”
The crowd gave a cheer of approval and Cobble continued, “The third order of business. We need a new name for the town. With the tower gone, Tower’s Shadow no longer makes any sense. Does anyone have any suggestions?”
People immediately began shouting out random words and names they thought the town should be named. Smoke could hardly hear anything over the unbearable cacophony. “One at a time alright?” Cobble said as the crowd began to quiet down. “Now, you.” He said pointing at a woman in the crowd.
“What was the name of that lady that went back into the underground? I don’t know what she was doing, I doubt many of us do, but I can tell she was going back down to do something important and that she may not come back up in the end. What was her name?”
Cobble’s eyes grew wide. “Penelope,” he said loudly.
“I vote we name the town Penelope,” she said with a grin. “I believe what she’s doing will make the biggest difference toward our freedom. Why else would you, Homer and Mister Callahan, all be there to see her go. Why else would she go alone?”
Smoke had been taken aback at the mention of his name. He didn’t think anyone outside Cobble’s military knew who he was. Apparently he was more well-known and respected than he had expected.
“All in favour of naming the town Penelope?” Cobble asked.
Almost every fist entered the sky simultaneously. Smoke couldn’t believe the people would name the town after Penelope. He agreed that it was a great idea and he supported it fully. It was just surprising.
Smoke smiled and stood. He grabbed his bag of skins and turned th
e opposite direction in hopes of not being noticed. He walked through the crowd quickly and without much difficulty before a hand grabbed his sleeve. Smoke turned and saw Blue clutching his arm.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“My vengeance isn’t done,” he said slowly.
“What about all that stuff you said to Constance about the price of vengeance?”
Smoke gently pulled his sleeve free from Blue’s grasp. “There is always a price for vengeance. Some are not able to pay it fully. Constance is one of those people. I however am fully capable of paying the price, even the one I know I’ll have to pay at the end.”
“Let me come with you,” Blue said a little louder than Smoke would have liked. Not that anyone had paid any attention to either of them anyway. “You saw me at my parents place; I am able to pay that price.”
Smoke nodded. “Yes you are. But, I don’t want you to have to pay that price. I want you to grow to become the woman you need to be. You have a future here; you can have a pretty decent life here.”
“I’m not okay with that!” Blue shouted as tears filled her eyes.
Smoke sighed. They hadn’t known each other long. A few days at most but she seemed to have grown on him as much as he seemed to have grown on her. “I’ll be back,” Smoke said as reassuringly as he could. “I promise you that. I’ll tell you what, if you’re leading some organization or the town when I get back, I will take you wherever you want to go. I do mean anywhere. But first I need you to be what you should be, the city builder.”
Blue sniffled and nodded her head. She placed both hands over Smoke’s ears and he did the same. “I won’t let you down,” she said with the makings of the beginning of a smile.
Smoke nodded again, turned around and walked away. He had every intention of returning to the town that would soon be called Penelope. He smiled as he heard the crowd get quieter and quieter in the distance. Before long he’d hit the wall, pay to cross it and he’d be on his way to Red City.
The Engine What Runs the World Page 33