by Jack Vantage
“How are you back there? Comfortable, I hope,” he said from tinny speakers around the interior. “Sit tight and this ordeal will all be over soon.” He flicked the switch again to turn the speakers off.
The gravity prongs jumped into action, as the vehicle lifted softly from the ground. Dylan felt the landing gear retract beneath the sky-mobile through the soles of his sneakers. Then he watched Nexus grab the rectangular steering wheel and guide the vehicle slowly from the parking bay. They headed towards the inclining ramped exit.
“Is it me or is there something wrong with this?” Dylan asked Lecodia.
“This whole fucking thing is wrong. I can’t believe you’ve got me into this. I can’t believe this whole fucking night,” she replied. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes.
The sky-mobile exited the parking bay and entered Quazar’s dawn at ground level. Everything from the ground felt claustrophobic, as the surrounding buildings hung over them.
Dylan peered up and viewed the haze of dawn piercing between the towering building’s via shards of light. The golden red sky warmed with a new day.
The area was quiet, with no other sky-mobiles occupying the air space. Civilisation was able to take a break for the Millennium, able to sit inside with no worry of work. The planet was on hold. Few times in his lifetime would the world be so quiet.
Gliding at ground level was a rare experience. Through the front windscreen, the vehicle sped the digital sphere markings that made up the ground level sky-way.
The surrounding buildings weren’t so clean, as Dylan discovered over the first few years of his Quazar life. The buildings were worn like an old sneaker, far from the glossy upper world of Quazar that shone like a polished shoe.
Small businesses operated all around as they sped by. The ground was a much seedier place, a place that was heavily monitored by the Authoritarians. Crime was higher than in most other places on Quazar, mainly due to the cover the buildings offered; all the nooks and crannies of the world were the ideal location for the law-breaking Quazarian.
A few small grimy shop fronts passed the mobile. One was signed Reduced Apartment Materials, another said Food You Can Recycle And Use Again. Both were moggy-glass windowed, and both were imbedded in unwashed structures. Much of the lower living area needed an acrylic wash or makeover. The president, Malcolm Junior, had recently promised to overhaul the area. The industrial quarters were cleaner than some low-living residential quarters secluded on the natural earth of Quazar.
Lecodia squeezed his hand tight. He felt her distress; this was no place for a beautiful girl who was new to the world.
“How much farther?” she whispered.
“About five minutes, I think. Hold tight.” He looked into her gorgeous eyes. The responsibility and guilt stung him for entangling her in this mess. “It’s going to be all right.”
The precinct, Dylan believed they were taking him and Lecodia to, lay just around the corner of the next block. The precinct was a building in itself, isolated like most of the precincts around Quazar at ground level. The reason was to hide the imperfections of Quazar, place them out of sight. He hoped they arrived soon and ironed out this crease in his otherwise perfect life.
Dylan noticed Timmy and Nexus discussing something. Timmy flicked the switch to communicate with them.
“You two love birds holding up all right?” he asked.
“Fine. What’s going on?” Dylan replied with Lecodia’s hand still firmly in his.
“We just need to stop for a few minutes. We’ve been up all night, and if we don’t eat something right now, we won’t get to eat until this mess with you is over. So, we’re going to get something to take away. It’ll only take a few minutes, plus we won’t leave your sight, so don’t worry.”
“What do you mean we’ll be stopping? It’s your duty to take us straight to the precinct.”
“Hey mister, we can do what we want. You sit there and watch us. Like we said before, we were good enough to move you without restraints.”
Nexus said, “If I were you, I would keep your boyfriend quiet, Miss, or you’ll be visiting the precinct with more than a case full of—oh let me get this straight—narcotics!”
“Okay guys ease off. You’re scaring us if that’s what you want. Please just get this over with as soon as possible.”
“Just sit tight and it will all be over soon enough,” Timmy replied. “Hey Hants, there’s a breakfast bar up ahead, the one with all the trimmings on the take away vitamin rolls. You know, the saturated ones. Let’s stop there, get something less healthy.”
Dylan pulled Lecodia closer to him. He wanted to comfort her. The ordeal must have put ten years on her, because it certainly had him.
The vehicle slowed as the small Quazar café approached. It was situated between two stores that were signed Suburb Apartments and Apartment Cleaning, Fast and Effective. Both stores bore a worn exterior. Rising above was a cluster of brown stone suburb apartments. A collage of clothes dangled from their small balconies airing, as the buildings reached high.
Dylan could see the apartments from his own home window. He always thought they were a sore sight in his otherwise perfect view. Their bodies were tattered, weathered, and in desperate need of attention at the base. But from a hundred metres up they transformed into the usual glossy glass structures that paraded the heights of Quazar.
The café steamed like a grease pot, with mist rising from vents above the store’s sign. A dull decorated shop front fabricated the building that blended it with the neighbouring row of stores. Nexus pulled the vehicle to a stop outside the café and rested it gently on its landing gear.
“Who’s going in, me or you?” Timmy asked.
Dylan and Lecodia watched from the rear.
“I’m not letting you put my breakfast together again, last time I nearly choked on the artificial mustard,” Nexus replied. “We’ll grab them together. We’ll get them from the dispense window.”
Timmy turned to Dylan and Lecodia. “Now I know you two won’t be trying anything, because you can’t,” he chuckled. “This won’t take long. We’ll be right there,” he said, pointing to a small hatch at the stores front.
“Be good the two of you,” Nexus said as he left the mobile.
“We’ll be here, Ryan,” Dylan replied.
The guards moved towards the café’s hatch, as the doors closed automatically.
“What’s going on Dylan? You’ve been asking weird questions all the way here.” Lecodia’s eyes averted from his like it was painful to look at him.
“There’s something up with these guys. Nothing seems right,” he replied as he leaned over her to see where they were.
“Like I said at the apartment, Dylan, paranoia,” she replied.
“No, for real. They aren’t guards,” Dylan said, ignoring her moan. He eyed them again at the breakfast hatch. Then he pulled his laser pen from his pocket.
“What’s that?”
“Something to help us get out of here.”
Lecodia backed away from Dylan with her arms up. “Now wait, Dylan. This will just cause more trouble.”
“Trust me, Lecodia, please. These guys are not who they say they are.”
“You have got me in too trouble much already. I think I’ll take my chances. All they’re doing is getting something to eat.”
From the front of the vehicle the inbuilt dashboard frequency communicator began flashing. Its digital channel number switched to line fifty-five and the voice of Regan played through the speakers. Timmy had forgotten to flick the speaker switch, and Lecodia and Dylan listened to a communication that wasn’t meant for their ears.
“Nexus, Timmy, do we have the stuff?” the old voice moaned. “I want to know that you got the Mentha. I can’t believe you let a nineteen-year-old kid take it. The more I think about it the more I’m upset at you, Timmy, and the more I see that Nexus is right. You need to be more careful. Next time, listen. Anyway, use the old factory floor to dispose of the
bodies.”
Dread filled Lecodia’s and Dylan’s eyes.
“And Timmy, they’re just kids. Do it cleanly, quickly, and mess free. I don’t want a sound made, and none of these barbaric techniques you’ve been using lately. It’s disturbing. Let me know when you’re done. I want to know our Mentha is back where it belongs. See you in a second.” The communication ended.
“Dylan, what is going on?” Lecodia asked in shock.
“I told you, these are the dealers. They must have followed us back. Fuck, I’m stupid.” He felt around the rear door.
“What do mean? You’re joking, right? They’re going to kill us?”
“Lecodia, wait a second. I’ll have us out of here in a second. Keep an eye on them and tell me if their coming.”
Dylan began working on the door with his laser pen. Trickles of smoke rose from the burning material.
“What’s that, Dylan?”
“It’s a cutting tool. I think I can cut the lock. Just keep an eye on them.”
Dylan worked quickly, cutting into the door, through layer after layer of various metals and carbon.
“Hurry, Dylan. Hurry,” Lecodia said.
A click sounded inside the door panel. Dylan slid back and kicked at it gently while leaning on Lecodia. It released, and he pushed it up silently. He peered back at the dealers at the food window. Their backs were still turned. The Quazar morning air breezed through the mobile and wavered Lecodia’s luscious long hair.
“Come on, and be quiet,” he said.
He held his hand out.
She looked at him—still disbelief emanated from her eyes—and then took his hand. Dylan lowered behind the rear end of the vehicle with Lecodia beside him and checked once more that the dealers were still occupied.
“What do we do, Dylan?” she asked, crouched.
“Look for something, anything to get away with.”
Dylan eyed the environment with quick glances, when a sky-bike lowered ten metres away. Dylan had never driven one but had always dreamed of taking to the air and flying like a bird.
He turned to Lecodia.
“No way, Dylan. No way am I getting on that. You can’t even drive it.”
The racer of a sky-bike gently landed. Its yellow aeronautical body was crafted like a bullet. Its name, Reloaded, scribed the side of its slender body in bold black lightning font. The biker twisted his body and stepped over the sky-bike to dismount. He left his aerodynamical helmet on the seat of the machine and walked towards the food window. His boots clip-clopped his path.
“No way, Dylan.”
“Would you rather stay here with the mystery men? He’s left it on. Come on.”
Dylan grabbed Lecodia and crept from behind the Authoritarian vehicle, turning every other second to glimpse toward the dealers.
The bike glistened. Its power was frightening. The racing machine was designed for speed, an air bullet. Lights twinkled over its desirable body. Its rear end lit with digital circles, which were a collection of large led’s that spun in a dance of digitalism. The seat bucketed with white leather comfort. The machines body was a work of beauty, its nose cone a menace, its side panels were indented wind cutters. Gauzes and vents filtered all over. The wheel gravity chargers were a captivating evil. The charging wheels were two hollow circles front and back, with red lit spiked spokes within the inner wheels. The wheels rotated and charged the gravity prongs, much like a wind turbine generated power. It was a slick visual sight. The coolest, albeit most dangerous, way to travel. The wind would give way for this super sky-bike. Both moved to the machine.
“Grab the spare helmet from under the seat, quick,” Dylan said.
Lecodia lifted the rear-angled seat up and retrieved a white helmet. Dylan lifted his. He glanced back at the dealers for one last check and placed his helmet over his head.
Through the red-tinted visor a digital sky-way slip lane revealed itself to Dylan. Like a runway, the orange digital sphere balls trailed upward and around the facing super structure in a coiling lane. Dylan positioned himself on the bike, while Lecodia wrapped her arms around his waist tightly from behind.
The facing structure was a densely tinted, glass covered giant. It was oblong, standing vertically with four massive stone white support beams holding it in place at its base. The buildings support beams angled like spider legs, stiff ridged spider legs. Its plaza was a clean white stone paved area, simple and minimalist, that run beneath the giant building and round its support legs.
A small panel of lights and buttons stared at Dylan from between the bikes streamlined handlebars. The speedometer lit luminous green, ranging from zero to two hundred miles per hour. The rpm reader sat beside with an ultra-violet glow. Dylan hit the strap button, and the locking mechanism slid over his feet. Behind him, Lecodia’s did the same, locking her to the bike. They were like handcuffs for ankles.
On the right handlebar was the throttle control, while on the left was the altitude control. He revved the machine, which whistled and whined with power. He looked over to the food window, where both dealers were watching him, stunned. Nexus dropped his food.
The biker raised his hands in the air and shouted, “Thief! Thief!” then raced towards them. The dealers joined the sprint behind.
“Do it, Dylan!” Lecodia pleaded.
He twisted the throttle and sped away at ground level, as the landing prongs automatically retracted. Dylan held the bars firmly and held on for dear life as the G-force intensified.
With a slight tweak of the altitude throttle the sky-bike tilted upward, where Dylan viewed the above skyways speckled with thin traffic a few hundred feet away. The digital road wound around the glass super structure that reached for the sky, higher even than the sky-way he was headed for.
Lecodia tightened her grip around Dylan’s waist as the bike sped upward, and the ground dropped away.
Dylan followed the digital slip-way with a wavered line. He felt air washing his body and heard the whooshing of its voice passing his ears. “Lecodia, are you okay?” he said into the microphone in his helmet.
“Keep your attention on the sky-way, Dylan. Shouldn’t you be leaning forward?”
“Okay, okay.”
Dylan leaned forward with his elbows positioned out sideways. He held the handle bars tightly.
“How high are we going?”
“I haven’t thought about that. Until we know we’re safe.”
“Just get us away from them.”
Dylan followed the digital slip-way, which joined in the distance with a main connecting Sky-way to Central Capital 8. He had no idea of the sky-nav maps. But he remembered an Intake friend telling him to follow the instructions that appeared on the helmet’s visor and he couldn’t go wrong. He decided to do that.
As he neared the connecting sky-way junction, he said, “Lecodia, do you know how I can see behind me?”
“How am I supposed to know? Oh god I’m going to die!” she blubbered.
“Calm down, please. All I need to find is the mirrors.”
Suddenly top right of his helmet, a rectangular screen appeared, displaying a streaming image from behind.
“It’s okay, Lecodia. I’ve got it. Sky-Nav, please.”
“Location coordinates or destination please,” the comforting female computerised voice of the nav-system replied.
“Lecodia, where should we go?”
“How the fuck should I know?”
“Sky-Nav, Vancouver building roof top please.”
“Calculating destination. Please follow the blue trail, and drive safely.”
Dylan eyed forward as a thin blue line ran ahead, centre slip-way. He looked left at the passing oblong super skyscraper and watched his distorted reflection pass each window at an ever-increasing speed. This was like his racing games he’d played at home. The entire situation felt surreal. He screamed with adrenaline-fuelled pleasure.
“Stop it, Dylan.”
“Oh, come on. This is cool,” he replied,
as a distant speck grew larger and larger from behind.
The vehicle of Nexus and Timmy twisted around the skyscraper below them. It played in the visor’s rear mirror. Frontal the slip-way straightened with a junction that merged onto the vehicle-clustered main sky-way left of him.
“Lecodia, hold on. We’ve got company.”
Dylan twisted the throttle and revved exponentially. It ticked the mph reader to 70 mph, pushing Dylan’s strength to breaking point. The rear speck transformed clearly into the dented Authoritarian vehicle of Nexus and Timmy, and it gained air by the second.
Dylan focused on the road, and cut dangerously into the main sky-way, forcing sky-mobiles and sky-bikes to swerve and veer. Dylan’s nerves wavered, which mimicked through the bike’s stability. Its rear end wobbled then straightened.
“Dylan, you’re going to kill us!” Lecodia screamed.
“They’re catching us. I have to go faster.”
“Please be careful.”
The five-lane sky-way was split by tiny digital revolving spheres. The outskirts were an orange digital line of dots, while the internal lanes were split by a luminous blue dotted line. The small spherical objects were only visible through the visor but appeared hard and hazardous to the speeding motorist.
A red laser bolt flew past on the left, inches from Dylan and Lecodia.
She screamed.
In the rear image, Nexus leant out of the passenger side window, firing his weapon erratically. The planet’s buildings tunnelled and scrolled farther and farther behind. Some buildings were higher, but most were beneath their altitude. The world was passing like a blur in Dylan’s sight. His heart was in his mouth.
Lecodia was terrified. “Please save me.”
More bolts whizzed past, some inches away, and Dylan viewed the deranged monsters gaining closer and closer. This was as close to death as he had ever been. One false move and it was all over. His grip on the handlebars tightened, and the fear of death intensified.