The Engine What Runs the World

by Quinn Buckland

  25

  The underground was a frightening place for a woman by herself. Penelope thought about all the near misses she’d had in the past by crazed people wanting her body or to kill her in a fit of rage. Sometimes she’d been able to fight them off, other times she’d lose the fight and fall victim to the urges of others. In the end what happened to her didn’t matter. She’d always know it happened, but the memories of the attacks would fade over time until nothing remained.

  Once she had managed to become a lift driver she’d found the attacks came much less frequently. She’d been free to do as she wished and live in the underground in peace. Food and drink came to her more often and life became much more bearable. Still, she’d watch her back. Lift drivers were few and far between and it was difficult to train others how to turn the crank the right way to prevent gears from jamming or to build the necessary strength to bring groups of people up the lift at a consistent pace. Nonetheless, it didn’t stop crazed psychopaths from attacking lift drivers. Those people were usually killed quickly or sent to the ninth below and the mad dash would begin to find another lift driver.

  Now alone, Penelope found the underground to be even more of a frightening place than before. While full of people Penelope knew what to expect from the underground. She knew to keep her guard up and be aware of her surroundings at all times. With the underground being devoid of all life she found herself on guard more than she thought necessary. She knew some people had chosen to stay behind and die with the underground. That was their choice. However, nothing would stop those people from killing one another. If someone came across her they’d likely attack.

  On the way up there had been three of them. That would have been an effective enough deterrent for many attackers. Most didn’t want to die and three against one was a fool’s battle; especially when one had a revolving pistol on display. She still carried her revolving pistol; she refused to come down unarmed, especially with a destination as dangerous as the engine.

  She turned the crank to the ninth below quickly. The trip down had been much quicker than she had anticipated. It seemed like no time at all. Although, she didn’t have to escort two people who had been tortured to the point where walking was painful, that alone made her trip much quicker.

  The ninth below was just as dark and grim as she’d remembered. It hadn’t been long ago, but it seemed as if ages had gone by. So much had happened in the course of a few days and the fact that she had never intended to come back to the underground made the memory seem farther away than it actually was.

  She walked past the small settlement and towards the barns. She remembered exactly where the lift was hidden and intended to walk directly toward it. She could easily spin the lock to the right combination and make her way downward, but that could lead to her capture and she wanted to be able to walk into the center of the works before detonating the atomic boomer. Before she broke into the engine she’d try and get their attention. “Hey engine people!” she shouted, “I want to talk to you!”

  She waited for a response before continuing forward. As she walked she continued to shout at random points.

  “Hey engine people! How would you like to have the person who allowed Smoke Callahan and Blue Lang to escape?”

  “Hey engine people! I’m immortal; you’re going to want me!”

  “Hey engine people! Don’t pass this up; I’m not going to wait here forever!”

  Once she reached the lift she sat and waited. She was done shouting and announcing herself. She closed her eyes and relaxed. If she hadn’t been taken to the engine or at the very least greeted by engine personnel soon, she’d break in.

  After several hours of waiting and a short nap Penelope knew she’d have to break in after all. She stood and cracked her back. The bones popped with her every move as she stepped to the combination lock in the wall. She spun the dial until the two doors opened. As she stepped in she could feel the boomer shift inside her and crush her lungs. Breathing wasn’t something she needed, but it made things comfortable for her. She shook herself and leaned forward to allow air to fill her lungs. She scowled at the pain in her chest and watched as the doors closed and sealed her in the metal box propelled by nothing more than steam.

  The thought occurred to her that someone would notice the lift coming downward and suspicions would be aroused. That was not something Penelope wanted, her plan would work best if she were either escorted to the center or managed to make it in and around the engine without being noticed. But, that was a problem that couldn’t be avoided. There was one way in and out and nobody was coming to bring her down. Perhaps they smelled a trap, maybe they didn’t hear her and had no idea she was even there. It was hard to say and she wouldn’t know until she got there.

  A thought did occur to her. When Robert had taken her and Smoke to the engine it was said there hadn’t been anybody waiting at the bottom for them. Even going back up nobody even looked at them twice. With all the people who consistently go up and down from the engine there was the possibility there would be nobody there to greet her, she’d be able to go about her task unimpeded. There was no real way to know for sure until the doors opened.

  The lift ride was longer than she thought. The anticipation was the worst part of her situation. She was walking around the underground on her way to the engine that had enslaved the world with an atomic boomer hidden away in her abdomen. Once the boomer went off she’d cease to exist for a time. The thought of truly dying was a wonderful thought, but she knew her curse was a permanent affliction. The only being that could remove it was The Writer and it didn’t seem to have any interest in helping her out. However, there was still the possibility The Writer would allow her to die after this act. Maybe this was what she had been intended for. Maybe everything she had endured through her six thousand years of life all would lead to this point. Where she saves the world. She smiled and hoped her death would be the thanks she’d get, considering the fact that if she survived and by the time she made it to the surface nobody would remember her. She wouldn’t get as much as a thank you from the people.

  The doors of the lift opened and she stepped out to the Engine What Runs the World. As she looked around she saw the workers maintaining the engine. They all wore the same white work shirts and brown trousers. Many of them were stained with the oil and burned from steam from the boilers. She hated the thought that the innocent people would be dying along with the engine. Many didn’t have a choice and were subjected to several tortures and brainwashing to become complaisant and willing to work the engine. They didn’t deserve to die. Although, she didn’t imagine any of them would leave willingly, even with the threat of death.

  Many of the workers outside the blast zone would die a horrid death. The radiation from the atomic boomer would cause their skin to fall off and for them to vomit blood among other horrible symptoms. The workers that would be close to her wouldn’t know what had happened. She doubted they’d even hear the boomer detonate, while many within the blast zone would have time to react before the inferno ripped them to pieces. Still, the thought of innocent people who did not deserve death bothered her. It wasn’t the first time she’d killed innocent people and if she survived she’d likely be the cause of many more innocent deaths.

  She took in a deep breath and continued toward the center of the engine. The place was even more expansive than she had realized. She remembered her first look and how it had taken her breath away. She had never seen a contraption so great and intimidating. Even now she had to keep her mind from getting lost within the moving parts. It would be too easy to watch the cogs spin all day and see where they go and find the function and purpose of each piece both large and small.

  “You look new here,” a woman’s voice said from behind her.

  Penelope spun and faced the woman. She had a plain face with black hair and brown eyes. She gave Penelope a smile. “What gave me away?” Penelope asked with a forced smile.

  “The way you look at the engi
ne,” the woman said. “It takes a few weeks for the mind to become immune to the engine’s hypnotic ways. It’s really easy to fall under its spell and walk off the platform.”

  “I wouldn’t have walked off the platform,” Penelope said with less of a smile, but maintaining a semblance of friendliness.

  “A lot of people say that before walking off the ledge, or at least trying to,” the woman said.

  Penelope nodded, “Well thank you then. I don’t think I’d walk into the gears, but I don’t doubt people do it on the regular.”

  “Yeah,” the woman replied. “They need to do better training in that matter. So how’d they break you?” she asked out of nowhere.

  It was a personal question. Penelope considered telling the woman off, but then she thought it was possible the question may have been commonplace with the locals. “I wasn’t broken,” Penelope said with surety, “I came in voluntarily.”

  “Oh good,” The woman said. “I always enjoy hearing that people are willing to embrace the engine and what it does for the poor souls in the underground.”

  “What do you mean by poor souls?” Penelope asked.

  The woman gave Penelope a strange look. “You obviously haven’t gone through the orientation yet then. I can’t believe they are allowing people in the engine without orientation now.”

  “Yeah,” Penelope said. “Officer what’s her face said we would do it tomorrow and let me loose in here. There has to be a better way about this.”

  The woman gave Penelope a smile. “Go easy on the officers. I didn’t know it was an officer that was piloting you. They’ve been out of sorts and a little understaffed since the breakout.”

  “Breakout?” Penelope asked knowing exactly what she was talking about.

  “Yeah, a man and a young girl managed to kill two officers and escape the engine. It’s only a matter of time before the surface or even the tower comes down with their boomers and revolving pistols. I’ll be honest, I’m actually quite frightened over what will happen.”

  “What makes you think I’m not one of them?” Penelope asked. “You’ve never met me, I could be anyone.”

  It wouldn’t hurt if Penelope told someone who she was. She wouldn’t waste time with details, but if the woman guessed who she was it would be nothing to start running down the path, or even to detonate the atomic boomer. She was too far in to fail now. “You aren’t shooting anyone nor are you blowing anything up,” the woman said. “I grew up in the fifth below. I know how the people from the underground work.”

  “I was a lift driver,” Penelope said. The look on the woman’s face said everything she needed to know. “It’s true; I ran the lift between the seventh and eighth below.”

  “Wow,” was all the woman said.

  “Step away from our worker!” another woman’s voice shouted.

  Penelope turned and looked upon a woman with two male officers behind her. From Smoke’s descriptions this had to be Portia Lincoln. “You must be Portia,” Penelope said with a grin.

  “I am,” Portia admitted, “Who are you? Why are you here? How did you get here?”

  “You remember Smoke right?” Penelope asked.

  “Sure,” Portia said with a sneer. “I also know what we did to his whore of a woman.”

  “Oh good, that was going to be my next question,” Penelope said as she grabbed her thumb and readied the trigger to the atomic boomer that had been carefully implanted in her hand. “There are a lot of things I will allow to go. After all, I can’t fix the world nor can I do anything to change the nature of people. But, I can’t allow for the horrific mutilation of innocent people nor can I stand by and allow people to torture and brainwash other people to maintain their own ends. It’s not right, Smoke will bear the scars from the needle chair for the rest of his life and I don’t think Blue will ever be able to be touched in her woman parts without grimacing. This is for them and all those who have been brainwashed and killed for your engine.”

  Penelope pressed hard on her thumb and bit her lip as she bent it backwards until the joint fell out of the socket. She screamed in agony before grinning. The countdown had begun. “What was that about?” Portia asked.

  Penelope gripped her hand, “I don’t think anyone has said this in almost two thousand years, but, boom motherfucker.”

  One of the officers pointed his revolving pistols at her and fired. The shot entered and exited her head moments before the boomer detonated. She never felt the explosion; neither did Portia, the officers or the kind woman she had been talking to. Had she been alive to feel the boomer rip her apart she may have smiled.

  26

  Dear Penelope,

  It’s been two years since you left for the engine. Cobble says that you should be coming back any day now so I decided to write you this little letter just so you know what you’re getting into when you get back up here. A lot has changed and I figured it’d be nice to avoid any shocks.

  First off, we destroyed the tower. We allowed for whoever lived in the tower to come down to the surface to live with us. There were a few families and individuals who chose to die with the tower. I’m not surprised but I’m still not pleased with this choice, I do understand the necessity of tearing the tower down as quickly as we could. If we had waited for the people to change their minds or forced them out they would have been a nuisance on our society. They could have gathered the people who used to live in the tower and recreate the class system. Or they could have found the boomers and our plan would have failed. The deaths weigh heavily on my head, but Cobble and everyone in the town is helping.

  The town is getting really big. It wouldn’t surprise me if this place became a city in the near future. I should let you know that everyone appreciates what you’ve done for us. I know there no real way to know for sure if the engine was destroyed, but in honour of your sacrifice the town decided to change its name (considering Tower’s Shadow was no longer a relevant title). By a landslide majority we decided to name the town Penelope, after you. There really is no way we can repay you fully for what you’ve done for us and what you had to do to yourself to make it happen. People will remember you Penelope. Stories and songs will be recited for all time. So again, thank you for everything you’ve done for Smoke, Blue, the town and the world.

  You only really knew Cobble for a short time, but he is now the elected law keeper. It’s a bit of a far cry from what he used to do, but as he puts it, “This is a new world. New world for us means a new start. The Cartel is done. It was done as soon as the plans to come to the surface had become a reality. We’re a community now and our main focus should be making sure everyone has what they need and being sure that everyone works for their share.”

  I really love that man and what he’s standing for. We have a jail house now, although we don’t use it for much these days. A great thing if you ask me.

  Another one of the bigger changes was our anti-slavery laws. The Nagara were angry with the decision and many left the area. Blaze and a good number of his Nagara tried to overthrow the town but were quickly defeated. They were tried with treason against the town of Penelope and were executed. It wasn’t a job anybody wanted, but it’s the way it went.

  Nobody has seen Smoke for quite some time. After the tower exploded he disappeared. Blue was the last to see him before he left. She says he’s off to Red City to deal with the organization that first created the engine. Nobody knows if he’s alive or dead. I’m hoping he’s alive and on his way back. I think if anyone deserves a time to relax and enjoy life, even if it’s only for a minute, it’s him. But, I don’t know how long that would last. Blue told me of his vow to Glass (who I was very upset to hear what had happened. She was an amazing woman and I very much liked her). I think he’ll be searching his whole life to fulfill that vow.

  Blue is doing well. She’s been seeing this young man she said was once her families’ servant. I’ve met him a few times, he’s a nice boy. Nothing too exceptional, but nice and he’s been very good t
o Blue. She’s been doing some great things for the town. She’s adapted the technology she wanted to use for the underground and made it work for the surface. We’ve been able to get our electricity back from the use of wind power. I don’t know how exactly it all works. Blue tried explaining it to me at one point, but I just don’t get it. I can see why the engine wanted her, if she had brought her wind machines to the surface or water machines to the underground it could have made the engine obsolete.

  In fact, many of the scientists from the tower have been working nonstop to create technologies for our town. They’ve built bigger and better weapons to defend ourselves; they’ve built devices to help plant larger crops to prepare for the winter. Things are getting better and better every day. You really have to see it for yourself.

  We never did find out who the informant for the engine was. We all assume it was Blaze and I think we will continue with that, but there are parts that don’t quite add up. Like why did he help me by letting me know who killed my parents if he didn’t want me breaking in? I don’t know, It doesn’t make sense for the informant to be Cobble or Homer either. There’s a clue I’m missing, but I think I’m going to give it a rest regardless. The engine is gone, the tower is gone and life is good. Whoever it was, they’re working for the town or dead.

  There’s not really much more to fill you in on. I hope you come back soon. You are well missed around here and we all eagerly await your return.

  All the best wishes,

  Constance Ibot

  Constance placed the letter down on the table and folded it into a third of the size. She stuffed the onionskin paper into an envelope and sealed it with a dab of wax. She sighed as she removed the cork from the bottle of mulch liquor and took a long drink. The alcohol burned her throat as she took several more large drinks. She looked at the letter and smiled, the town she had described in the letter was a very real town. The outside world was bright and buzzing with industry and comradery. It was a shame she did what she could to lock herself away from it all.