by Jack Vantage
“Leon. Leon,” Dylan said. His shout echoed.
“It’s no good,” Hammed replied.
“Hammed, you’re going to have to get to him, slowly. But wait I’m going to get the wire, just wait,” Dylan said.
“Hurry,” he replied.
The girder below the bowl slipped and dropped a foot. The bowled area shifted downward, and the chunks of debris slopped steeper. Hammed kept his balance as it shook. Suddenly the centre of the bowled office floor gave, and Dylan thought he’d lost his two friends. A large gap opened at the bowls base which exposed the deadly drop below to his friend’s. Leon’s body bounced behind a desk which stopped his roll. Hammed landed on his ass and began sliding down. He managed to grip onto a wedged office chair, as office equipment and furniture plunged through the exposed gap. The furniture clashed, clattered, and fell.
Lecodia screamed. The bowled area was close to collapsing in on Hammed and Leon, like a Venus fly trap would its prey. It would snatch them to their death a hundred-foot bellow, where the jagged and mangled remains of the lower floors awaited. Hammed regained his balance and stood with a softness that would have suited a ballerina.
Dylan quickly ran to the wire. He tied it securely around the nearest support column.
“Hammed, tie this around you.” He controlled his nerves with heroic authority.
“Throw it, throw it,” Hammed said. His hands extended like he was beggar at Jesus's feet.
Dylan wound the wire around his arm and tied the end into a lasso. He was confident it would reach Hammed, who stood ten meters away praying for rescue. Hammed pressed his hands together and whispered a prayer. Lecodia stood beside Dylan and fidgeted like the ground was burning.
“Hammed on three, okay,” Dylan said.
“Okay. Aim for me.”
“Tie it around your waist, then grab Leon. Ready?”
The air moved with a subtle waft as Dylan swung the wire around like a cowboy. He released the lasso. It flew well across the bowl to Hammed, where he awaited arms ready.
Lecodia screamed. At intake Hammed was never the sporting type, in fact he rarely impressed in any of the physical activities. But his catch was pitch perfect. He caught it tightly and began to tie it around his waist.
Lecodia jumped for joy.
“Make sure you tie it tight,” Dylan said.
As Hammed tied the wire Dylan paced. “It’s tied.”
Suddenly the bowl collapsed again with a loud creaking give.
Lecodia screamed, “Hammed quick, grab Leon.” The bowl collapsed and freed wedged office items, which including desks, computers, segments of ceiling, debris, and chairs. Everything bounced and kicked dust into the air, then slid down the breaking bowl. It was nearing vertical when Hammed jumped, it was heroic.
The desk holding Leon’s body gave and he began rolling toward the widening hole that was falling away like sand in a timer glass. Hammed traversed the short distance between him and Leon like an animal in flight. His arms outstretched to grip.
Lecodia screamed, and Dylan gawped at the moment. The bowl fully collapsed. It dropped away in chunks, like a shattered pain of glass. Each falling segment entered a spin as it descended further and further away. Hammed’s body was in full stretch, he couldn’t have made himself taller as his back arched. Somehow, he caught hold of Leon’s falling body.
Lecodia screamed harder as Hammed hit Leon like a football tackle. He belted into his body. It must have hurt but he held him tight with both arms wrapped. They both fell downward as the chunks of office floor spun away bellow them. The collapsed debris slammed into the building a hundred feet down, with dust and sound coughing up.
“Hold him tight,” Dylan said. He couldn't believe he caught him.
Dylan watched the wire pull taught and whip crack. Hammed held firm as their bodies violently twisted and strained, like they were puppets on the end of a maniac puppeteers’ hand. They bounced and slowed, then dangled about ten meters below him. He managed it, the Indian, he managed to hold him. Dylan could see them over the edge of the intact office floor.
“Hammed, you beauty,” Dylan said.
“How the fuck did I do it?” Hammed said. “Thank you for tying it so tight Dylan.”
“Hold on buddy, I’m pulling you up.”
“Hold on he’s waking, Leon is waking.”
Dylan peered over the edge. Leon’s body groggily awoke. Hammed held him tight and Leon’s consciousness returned fully. He flustered into a panic, flipping and kicking like a fish on the end of a rod.
“Stop Leon, stop. You’ll get us both killed,” Hammed said.
“What, where, where am I?” Leon said still dazed.
“You’ve hit your head. I’m holding you alive. You fuckin idiot. We’ll fall.”
“My head hurts.” Leon said. He was more coherent.
“Leon you’re okay. I’ll pull you up now,” Dylan said.
Dylan ran to the support column, where the wire was tied, and pressed his feet against it. It would take strength to hoist them up, strength he knew he had in him. His legs aided the pull as he squatted off the column horizontally and hoisted the wire in.
“Lecodia as I pull, wrap the free wire around the support column. It’ll stop them falling back,” Dylan said, straining from the weight.
Lecodia nodded.
Dylan’s arms burned, but he managed it. He was relieved to see Lecodia help Leon up to safety, followed by the hero of the moment Hammed. Dylan fell back into a lay catching his breath.
Leon and Hammed ran to him, hugged, and congratulated. Lecodia stood with hands clasping her mouth, as tears of joy sprinkled her cheeks. “So, without being a party popper, I think we’d better get out of here,” Dylan said. “Let’s get this vine of a wire into position.”
“I agree. Another hit like that and we are gone,” Hammed replied.
Dylan unravelled the wire, and the group made their way to a window where they needed to abseil from.
Chapter 33
The Bird
The climb down was hairy. Lecodia was still a little shaken from the drop that beckoned murder. Dylan had tied the wire around her well, and lowered her five floors to Leon, who went first. They had reached a blown-out window and climbed into a damaged dark hallway.
After several minutes of dodging around debris in the hallway, they arrived at a broad door. Hammed opened it, then stepped back to let the others go ahead.
All three looked over the floor in amazement. Dozens and dozens of the smartest, fastest, slickest, most dangerous sky-mobiles stood under pools of light. The floor was a glaring glitzy collection of huge glossy white tiles, with the odd glass sales desk positioned around. The sky-mobiles stole the attention of all. It was a fashion show for the air machines. Fate had finally intervened on their behalf; the floor was still intact.
Hammed said, “Do you see them as well? Probably one million credits each, at least.”
Dylan nodded, awed. Then he came around. “We could never afford one, but at the moment we can’t afford not to take one.”
He looked around, still in awe, but looking for the right machine. Lecodia looked to a silver model that was slim like paper. Its body was cut low. She couldn’t believe someone could fit in it. It was designed to part air and slice the atmosphere. The head lights curved the slopping bonnets edge. Its small spoiler, that held it horizontal while air born, dressed its petite ass, an ass that perked upward. Its entire body angled downward like it was a tiger ready to pounce. The soft light that pooled the machine glinted and twinkled a constellation over its sliver body. Its background display was a sky-blue digital drawing of an open horizon that held the image of a sonic boom. It was named Sonic.
Dylan laughed at the sight.
The gang looked to another air machine. It was an angry growl of a machine. It was chalk black and square, and its large angular bumper wrapped the front. Above it a fierce vent gridded. From its bonnet the gravity engine was exposed like it was arrogant. A collect
ion of hollow silver tubes spun with a whistle from the exposed engine. Indented side skirts run the sides bellow the doors, and the spoiler as a large wing on its rear. The background display was that of a burning furnace of large bold flames. Its name was Rage.
Finally, “There she is,” Dylan said, and pointed. “There aren’t many of these around. Lecodia come on.”
The machine, The Bird, was spectacular. It was like a bird of prey. Its metallic black body was shaped like a bird in the sky. The main body hung like an apple on its tree, from two curved, outstretched wings that were four metres in length each. Within each wing positioned a rotor at a metre in diameter. The main body was a collection of tinted glass panes that menacingly angled in the shape of an octagon. The wings were moulded like they had veins and muscles. Its bodies shape was lean.
“Do you know what these rotors are for?” Dylan said.
He placed his hands all over its body with lust and desire. Lecodia almost got jealous for a second as she nodded no.
“Normal sky-mobiles will let you hover, bank left and right slowly. But this swan will zip you around when hovering like a bee, yaw you quicker than you can handle. The rotor’s pivot and can attack each direction in a blink of an eye. It has a gravity prong but also has these babies to move you quick.” He smoothed the propellers.
Leon grew quiet, then turned to Dylan and stuck out his hand. “Dylan, it’s been fun, but me and Hammed gotta split. The asteroids aren’t over. I’ll open the showroom exit.”
“You’re leaving?” Lecodia said, stunned. It felt like her brother was leaving.
Leon nodded. “Hammed and I are on another ship. We need to leave. We got farther to go than you guys.”
She felt a tear fall her cheek; she didn’t want him to go she wanted them all together, all working on getting to the stations. Dylan shook his hand firmly, then pulled him into a hug and patted hard. Hammed joined them, hugging and shaking hands.
Dylan said, “Thank you for everything, Leon. I’ll look for you.”
“I’ll be waiting.” Leon smiled. “We need to go.”
“You take care of my boy for me, he needs it.” Leon said hugging her. “It’s been memorable, and I’ll see you soon.”
Hammed stood up to her. “Thank you for saving my life. You are a wonderful person. I will never forget you.”
Lecodia hugged and cried.
As the two walked away, Dylan took Lecodia’s hand and led her towards The Bird. He flipped the switch to open the craft up. The bottom tinted glass pane lowered at its rear. A few small steps offered a way in. Lecodia followed Dylan and climbed up into the cock pit which was a dream.
Inside the octagon, two bucketed seats positioned central. From inside the glass was transparent, which offered a three sixty view in all directions, a fantastic panorama to the outside world. Once they were seated, Dylan hit a button and the low dashboard lit with deep luminescent green lines. The lines drew altitude dials, an RPM gauge, wind levels, and yaw controls.
Dylan glanced at Lecodia. “Are you ready for this? One last dash to the station,” he said with deep affection.
“I’ll go anywhere with you. But my parents—what do we do?”
“We can look, get them on the way. We’re going to make it.”
She settled in her seat. “Let’s go. I want you to know I love you. Whatever happens, I love you.”
The meeting with Dylan was not chance, she could feel the influence of fate holding them together like a pair of synchronised dancers. Her dreams of being the Elysees queen may have been dashed, but together she and Dylan could share something, their life and existence.
“Here we go,” he said. He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
He grasped the two joysticks that stood erect either side of his chair and she watched his feet press and touch the foot pedals that worked speed and brake. The Bird whined and the rotors above her head on both sides propelled into action. A sensation of floating entered her stomach, as The Bird hovered inches above the floor. Nerves began caressing her, teasing her.
“Strap in,” Dylan said.
A large section of the buildings front floor to ceiling window began opening. Little light lit the outside world. It was like dusk was setting. The sun was dying, and it had little fight left.
Dylan dipped the nose and manoeuvred The Bird into the open air.
Once they were out of the showroom, the open sky reached all around. Lecodia could turn her head and body and see all around. She had a fantastic panoramic view. Up, down, left, right, she could see everywhere, like she owned omnipresent 360° vision.
The landscape was smoked. They had exited the back end of the high-rise buildings. On the rear-view monitor, Lecodia looked at the one they’d escaped. Dylan banked and turned The Bird to view it.
“Sorry I have to look at the damage the asteroids caused,” he said.
The sight took her breath away.
It was a miracle the building still stood. It was battered, with holes torn into it. Smoke and fire ate at it. Its peak was destroyed; a fiery pinnacle was all that remained. The building’s diamond outer shell was cut, warped, and twisted all over its height. The lower surrounding buildings were in equal tatters. The asteroids had hit the planet hard, like a bully would thump its smaller victims. “Let’s get your parents.”
Dylan swung the Bird around and sped up towards her parents building.
To the right, the line of high-rise buildings dominated the view like Domino’s, starting with the one they’d escaped from. All were dusted in volcanic ash. Some were dirty but intact, while others were unrecognisable, an obliteration of erection. Holes tore all over their bodies, where smoke, broken glass, and fires blazed from within.
They passed by a tall shard-like building, which rose to a stabbing peak. The white glass that dressed it was all but smashed, and the interior of it was a twisted wreck. It was a ruin, like something had rung it neck.
The next building was a large heavyweight, a gargantuan city glass scraper. Gashes were torn into it, like a giant knife had gone to work on it. What glass was left was sporadically dotted over its body. The earthquake had shaken it hard. It was flaking like it had bad skin, shedding debris like crumbs down its length.
Lecodia looked left over the open, charred landscape.
The large cross-shaped church lay in ruins, its dome a pile of rubble. Lower residential areas smoked, and the next nearest condensed grid of high-rise buildings stood four miles away, lining the horizon. Asteroids were attacking there, much like the raid here. She could feel the demise of her race, could feel the end nearing like an unexpected tsunami.
“Lecodia, according to Leon your block is somewhere around here. Type your flat destination into the sky-nav system.”
Lecodia typed the address into the dashes inbuilt flush keyboard that lined its green aura. A small holo-screen appeared above the keyboard and the navigation system drew a two-dimensional aerial view of the passing world. The directional line pointed to a building up ahead.
“We’re near. It should be within sight any second now,” she said.
Lecodia had spent her entire life with her parents. When she arrived on Quazar she promised herself to disengage with them, be herself, live her life, but she missed them, was worried for them. She began praying for their safety, and that they could hop into the craft and fly to the station with her and Dylan.
But the building where her parents should have been, was gone. Only a jagged stump stood. All but four stories remained, like ground zero. The carnage of its collapse stretched across the ground below like a fallen drunk. It had flattened lower buildings.
The two buildings that sandwiched it were unrecognisable. They too were twisted wrecks with no outer shell, just the deformed skeleton of their internal fabricated structure, crumpled and bent.
“My mum! My dad!” she whimpered.
“I’ll bet they made it,” Dylan said. “They probably left hours ago. The military—the military probably took
them hours ago.” He looked at her.
Lecodia felt pain. Memories hurt. Her mother and father flashed her mind. She could see them, like they stood at the front of her mind. Suddenly a wave of guilt crunched her like an ocean of emotion had curled over. The people who loved her more than anyone else could, were ever capable of, were gone. The guilt hit harder, she hadn’t said good bye, hadn’t said sorry, hadn’t said I love you. The unbreakable bond of parenthood was broken by an invading hand and it cut.
“Baby, I need you with me, okay? I need you, baby.”
Lecodia sobbed, she couldn’t help it. All she could see was her childhood, the memories of childhood, the playfulness of her parents chasing her, tickling her, hugging her. The hours at the dinner table, at bed time, the quality of life they offered. They were her cushion, her safety rope. Should anything go awry in life they would always be there no matter what. She thought Dylan was all she wanted, she was wrong. She’d taken for granted the most precious thing a person could have, the blessing of guardians.
“Hold it together baby. Please, I bet their already there.” Dylan said, when a crash and bump hit the left wing.
Lecodia screamed and thought she was dead. She looked out and up. The damaged authoritarian vehicle of Regan hovered above.
Chapter 34
Reunited
David Bell didn’t expect her to be there. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say, the panic of losing her had been a nightmare filled daydream.
His wife stood before him, her eyes tearing.
Helena stood next to her, smiling and lightly clapping her hands with joy.
Then rationality returned, and he smiled with relief. He extended his arms toward her. “Baby, come here,” he said softly.
Jasmine moved to him and hugged him tightly. He couldn’t help the tears and couldn’t thank God enough for the chance to hold his wife again.
Helena was crying softly in the background.
Jasmine moaned quietly, overcome by relief.
That was the moment when David knew he had his soul mate. The separation had welded a new bond, a new understanding of how much he loved her. There had been doubt in his mind, doubts of ever seeing her again. He felt a sense of guilt and regret for feeling those things. His mind confused in a medley of emotions. He needed another reality check, so he pushed her forward and held her out. He clasped her shoulders and looked over her.