The aircar shuddered and bounced like it was a living thing. Something – gusts of wind, perhaps – seemed to be battering at its hull, shaking the entire vehicle. He heard Gary let out a yelp as the vehicle tilted, as if it were on the verge of flipping over completely, then stabilised. Craning his head behind them, be beheld the CityBlock in all its glory.
He’d seen pictures, of course, but they didn't compare to the real thing. Rowdy Yates was a towering structure, growing out of the Undercity and clawing upwards towards the sky. It was staggeringly ugly, utterly solid. He couldn't imagine anything that would damage the giant building, let alone destroy it. The ominous clouds around the very highest levels seemed harmless, compared to the towering CityBlock.
And it wasn't alone. As the aircar rose higher, he saw hundreds – no, thousands – of similar structures, reaching towards the sky. If Rowdy Yates held upwards of a million inhabitants – they’d never been given any precise figures, if they existed – he couldn't imagine just how many people lived in the surrounding blocks. He’d certainly never left his CityBlock in his entire life, even the handful of field trips had been done through VR simulations. Who knew what it would be like in the next CityBlock?
It would be just the same, he thought. Block residents had a tendency to focus on their own block, completely disregarding the rest of the planet. There was near-constant warfare between the gangs over access routes and tolls, but most of them remained locked in their separate blocks. Nothing he'd seen, however, had suggested that there were real differences between the blocks, at least those close to one another. They'd be just like us.
He looked towards Yates and blinked in surprise as he realised the older man was actually flying the aircar personally. Darrin had never been on an aircar before, but he’d had endless lectures on how safe the automatic command and control network actually was ... and how fallible humans weren't allowed to fly their own vehicles. Now, he couldn't help wondering why they'd been taught that in the first place. It wasn't as if it was any use to them.
But what have we been taught that is useful?
The thought nagged at his mind. He'd learned more about playing the numbers from Fitz than he'd learned at school. His mother had taught him more about taking care of himself than school, largely through having as little to do with her son as possible. But school ... what good was everything they’d learned, really? All it seemed to do was keep the kids busy eight till six, including the time necessary to pass through the security gates. Maybe that was all the teachers wanted ...
He shook his head. If they’d been shown the towering cityblocks, what would they have made of them? But that had never been an option.
***
Gary had never expected to feel pathetically grateful to Darrin, but in taking the middle seat – and sparing him from Barry – he had good reason to be thankful for the other boy. It was hard enough being on the aircar; every time the vehicle lurched or shuddered, Gary had to fight down a rising tide of panic. He’d flown in vehicles before, in the VR worlds he’d fought in online, but it wasn't quite the same. Here, he could die if the vehicle fell out of the sky. The black clouds, seemingly bare metres above their heads, looked solid. He knew that was an illusion, that they would just pass through the clouds if they rose higher, but he couldn't escape the conviction that they were all going to die.
He fixed his gaze on the back of Kailee’s neck, trying to keep his mind occupied with something else. Fantasizing about the girls in his class had always seemed pointless – besides, he could download enough porn to keep himself occupied for hours – but there was little else to distract him. He was just grateful that he wasn't sitting next to Barry. The bastard would probably have pushed him towards the window, threatening to break through the glass – or whatever it was – and send him falling down towards the ground. Cold logic suggested that it would be impossible, but cold logic had little to do with his life.
Somehow, he managed to look down. The endless waves of cityblocks had come to a brief halt. Instead, there was a black liquid; it took him a moment to realise that he was staring down at the dangerously-polluted ocean, the same ocean that served as an excuse for the endless recycling and other government initiatives to save what remained of the planet’s environment. Looking down at the heaving mass, Gary couldn't help thinking that it was far too late – and besides, no one bothered to recycle anything anyway. There was just too much nagging and too little positive reinforcement. They didn't even bother with negative reinforcement.
If there are fish down there, they’re all dead, he thought. According to their one trip to the holographic zoo, millions of different animals now only existed off-world – or in zoos. That liquid is poisonous.
In the distance, he caught sight of ... something reaching up towards the sky. It looked like a needle, thin and barely strong enough to survive, but as they flew closer it grew larger and larger until it dominated the horizon. The building was larger – far larger – than any of the cityblocks they’d passed over; unlike them, it punched right through the clouds as if they weren't there. And it was still growing larger ... just how big was it?
“That’s Orbital Tower One,” Yates said, when Kailee asked. “It’s base is massive, over a hundred kilometres wide, set firmly in the planet’s crust. They say it took decades to build the tower and the other three, but once they were built humanity could really start expanding across the universe. Those towers are the gateway to the stars.”
The aircar dropped down towards the lower levels, finally coming into land on a small pad that dropped into the ground as soon as they touched down. Overhead, a hatch slid closed, blocking out the dark sky – and the first drops of rain. The lights came on, revealing a large hanger. All around them, there were dozens of other aircars.
“Stay inside the designated footpaths,” Yates ordered, as the doors opened. “You can get seriously hurt here if you stand in the wrong place.”
Gary climbed out of the aircar and hastened to stand in the safe zone. Kailee followed him a moment later, Darrin and Barry took longer. Yates ended up barking at them to hurry, then led them down the pathway as soon as they were both out of the vehicle. Gary and Kailee exchanged glances – she’d been just as scared as Gary, he realised – and followed him, allowing the other two to bring up the rear.
Despite himself, he felt a twinge of excitement. No one in his school had ever been to the orbital towers. The four of them would have a real story to tell when they got home ...
Not that it would help his social position, he knew. He would always be on the very lowest level of the social order. And there was nothing he could do about that.
Chapter Nine
Needless to say, public education within the Empire did not live up to these lofty goals. It did not even come close to living up to those goals. And the fact that each successive generation of children were worse-educated than the last played a large role in the eventual collapse of the Empire. As I have noted in my prior textbooks, towards the end the Empire was not even able to maintain – let alone expand – the society it had developed.
- Professor Leo Caesius. Education and the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire.
“These are your ID bracelets,” Yates said, once they had passed through an airlock into a thoroughfare. “Put them on, do not remove them until I tell you to take them off. At best, there’s a stiff fine for replacing them.”
Kailee took hers and examined it briefly. It didn't look any different to the bracelet she had to wear every day at school, at least on the outside. They were specifically forbidden to try to open them and, as far as she knew, no one had ever actually succeeded. Hell, none of the kids had ever even been able to take them off while they were in school. She wrapped it around her wrist, then followed Yates as he led them down towards a large crowd forming in front of a pair of gates.
She couldn't help glancing around with interest as she saw the thousands of people milling through the hall. Some of them were dres
sed just like her parents, others wore colourful costumes or uniforms she hadn't seen outside the entertainment flicks. One woman, wearing the navy blue uniform of the Imperial Navy, caught and held her attention for a long moment, before she walked away arm-in-arm with another uniformed man. Kailee couldn't help noticing that her uniform was carefully tailored to show off her curves to best advantage; absently, she wondered if that was a regulation uniform or if the woman was sleeping her way to the top. Stellar Star had never shared her body in exchange for promotion, but given her sheer number of conquests it was easy to believe that she might have benefited from the goodwill of her sexual partners.
A handful of men and women wearing long black robes that covered every inch of their bodies walked past them, even their faces hidden from prying eyes. Kailee had heard of the Faceless Ones, a religious sect that believed in hiding themselves, but she’d never met one before. In fact, looking at them, it was hard to tell which of them were male and which were female. If they weren't allowed to undress in public, even amongst their own kind, how would they know how to tell the difference? Coming to think of it, how did they even procreate?
They reached the front of the line and stopped outside a counter. The bored looking woman at the desk scanned their bracelets, then fired off a series of increasingly stupid and inane questions. No, they hadn't been off-Earth before; no, they didn't have any infectious diseases; no, they already had clearance to leave the planet ... by the time the woman was finished, Kailee was wondering if this was the sort of job most of her classmates could expect when they graduated. It didn't seem to require any skills apart from a high tolerance for boredom, which was the one useful skill taught in school.
“Give her your bags,” Yates ordered. “They will be shipped to the starship separately.”
Kailee scowled – if there was one thing she’d learned living in a CityBlock, it was that one should never leave one’s property unattended – but obeyed, handing over her bag. The woman took it, attached a bracelet to the straps, then dumped it on a moving line that whisked it away into the bowels of the tower. Gary looked ready to protest as his bag was dropped down hard enough to break anything fragile, but a warning look from Yates told him to keep his mouth shut. Once the final two bags were handed over, the gate hissed open, allowing them to proceed.
“Just to remind you that you are responsible for the content of your bags,” Yates said, once they were through the gates and heading towards the next checkpoint. “Should you happen to be carrying anything forbidden, they’ll ship you over to the holding pens and add you to the next batch of indents.”
You could have told us that earlier, Kailee thought, sourly. She'd actually read the instructions – there were a long list of things that they were forbidden to bring, starting with any form of weapon or explosives – but she doubted that either Darrin or Barry had bothered to read the list or have it read to them. Makeshift weapons were common in the lower levels of the CityBlock, despite endless laws against possession. Kailee honestly didn't know why the authorities bothered.
Gary had a different question. “What’s an indent?”
“An indentured colonist,” Yates explained. “They’re generally petty criminals from Earth, snatched up by the Civil Guard and sentenced to exile. Most of them spend five to twenty years on the outermost colony worlds, helping to prepare them for settlement.”
“That sounds bad,” Kailee said.
“It can be,” Yates agreed. “But a surprising number of indents have made something of themselves in the colonies. I knew a successful businessman who was shipped to his new homeworld after being caught purse-snatching in East-Meg One. He started as grunt labour in a farm, but soon realised how he could make a profit for himself.”
Gary looked appalled. “The criminal became an important man?”
“The colonies generally don’t care what someone did on Earth, as long as they are willing to work,” Yates said. “There are some who never learn, who spend the rest of their days in chains, but the ones who work hard can make something of themselves. And their children are considered proper colonists.”
He paused as they reached the second set of gates. “I suggest that you cooperate with the guards here, no matter what happens,” he added. “There was an ... incident two days ago and security has been tightened extensively.”
Kailee saw what he meant as soon as they stepped through the gates. Grim-faced Civil Guardsmen, carrying stunners and plastic ties on their belts, were watching the lines of people as they made their way through the security gates. She gritted her teeth as she realised that each and every person had to pass through the check alone. It was just like being at school, apart from the weapons and the clear aroma of fear in the air. Whatever had happened two days ago, it had been bad.
But I heard nothing on the news about it, she thought. She rarely watched the news, but Aunt Lillian watched it whenever she had a spare moment. Surely, her aunt would have told her if something had gone wrong. What happened?
Yates motioned for Barry to go first when they reached the second set of gates. The gate opened, then closed behind him with an air of stunning finality. Kailee discovered that her mouth was dry, even though she’d passed through similar gates every day she’d gone to school. When her time came around, Yates had to push her through the gate and into the small compartment. It was barely large enough for her to swing a cat.
“Hold out your arms,” a toneless voice ordered. “Spread your legs as far as they will go.”
Kailee hesitated, then obeyed. A dull buzzing sound echoed through the compartment, then nothing. She started to straighten up, then stopped when the voice spoke again, ordering her to turn around and bend over. Irritated, Kailee did as she was told. There was another buzzing sound, then the other door opened up. Kailee straightened up, stepped through and came face-to-face with a Civil Guardsman who leered at her. Had he been watching through a hidden sensor? How much could the sensors see?
“Show me your bracelet,” he ordered, holding a scanner in one hand. He pressed it against the bracelet when she held it up for him, then nodded down at the result. “You have a slot on Elevator Seventeen, departing in one hour. Do not be late or you will have to go through the whole procedure again.”
He nodded towards a door at the far end of the compartment, which opened. Kailee started to step through, then jumped forward as he aimed a slap at her buttocks. She heard him snickering behind her as she practically ran through the door; there was no point, she knew, in complaining about that sort of harassment. Civil Guardsmen were immune to lawsuits, even assuming that she had been able to put together the money to file suit. Outside, she saw Barry and Darrin sitting on comfortable chairs, waiting for her. The atmosphere seemed a great deal more relaxed now that they were through the security precautions. There were even readers placed on the tables, waiting for users.
“This is your one chance to explore the departure lounge, but we cannot miss the elevator,” Yates informed them. Kailee jumped; she hadn't heard him coming through the gates. “I want you to meet me over there” – he pointed to a large painting of the Childe Roland – “in forty minutes. Do not be late.”
Kailee nodded. Darrin and Barry took off at once. Gary hesitated, then sat down next to Yates and picked up one of the readers. After a moment, Kailee joined him. Despite the safety precautions, she didn't feel safe at all.
She looked over at Yates, who had found a reader of his own. “What happened two days ago?”
“The Nihilists attacked Enid Blyton CityBlock and took thousands of hostages,” Yates said, grimly. “You won’t have heard anything about it because the news was largely blacked out by the Government. The Civil Guard proved unable to quell the uprising and the Marines had to be sent in. You won’t have heard anything about that either.”
Kailee blinked in surprise. She'd heard of the Nihilists, of course; they believed that life was completely worthless, encouraging their followers to commit suicide. But she’d ne
ver realised that they would attack others ...
“They don't care about anything, apart from their beliefs,” Yates explained. “And that makes them deadly dangerous. I shudder to think about what might happen if one of them got onto the orbital tower with enough explosive to do real damage. Billions of people might be killed.”
***
Darrin had mixed feelings about spending time with Barry. One on hand, Barry could actually be fun; on the other hand, spending time with him was like living next to one of the man-eating monsters from the Arena. One never knew when the monster might turn on him when it next needed some amusement. But for the moment, walking through the departure lounge was a strange experience. Many of the people he saw, he realised, were actually leaving Earth permanently.
He looked at the stalls and smiled as he realised that the prices were actually cheaper than the prices in the CityBlock. There were even fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as the more common algae-based ration bars. The smell of freshly cooked meat drew him forwards and he found himself staring at a burger bar, before he remembered that he didn't have any money to buy anything. He considered, briefly, asking Yates for money, before dismissing the thought. They’d be fed on the elevator, they’d been told.
They walked back to the meeting point, then followed Yates through another set of gates and into a large room, crammed with comfortable chairs. A large display screen dominated one wall, other held a handful of automated food stalls. Yates motioned for them to find seats and sit down, leaving Darrin puzzled. Where was the elevator? The doors hissed closed and the entire room lurched, then there was a faint feeling of acceleration. Darrin shook his head in disbelief as the screen came to life; the entire room was the elevator. Outside, he saw the endless cities of Earth falling away as the elevator rose up into the air.
The Empire's Corps: Book 07 - Reality Check Page 8