Upworld

by Ian Woodhead

  “What is she doing?”

  Benedict’s question was directed at Nelson, but it was Dane who held up his hand to silence the man. The archaeologist ran over to her, climbed onto a low wall beside the now still giant, and waved his hands across her face. “There’s no response,” he said.

  Marlon pushed himself through them and stood by the wall, looking in confusion at his slave. She didn’t even look alive. He almost screamed when the woman suddenly started to quietly laugh. It was probably the most beautiful noise that he had ever heard. Even Branch was caught up in the angelic melody.

  “I remember this place,” she said, hear voice was barely a whisper. “Oh, I so used to enjoy our trips to the city park. I was small enough to hide in the long grass but tall enough to reach the ripe fruits of the paleberries hanging from the lowest branches in the orchard. We stayed in the park, all the children, while our parents attended the meetings.” She began to frown. “The park trips grew ever more frequent.” She started to shake. “Until they became every cycle.”

  Her haunting monologue had transfixed them all, apart from Marlon. He looked around, and he discovered that he wasn’t the only one no longer listening to her whining. Dane was a couple of feet away, holding something in his hand.

  The gun came back out. Her pointed the dangerous end at the archaeologist and ordered him to pass it over. Dane just shrugged before dropping it into Marlon’s outstretched palm. “What is it?”

  Dane grinned at him. “If you hadn’t snatched it away from me, I might have had enough time to examine it.”

  “What is it with you? Can you not see the gun in my hand? I mean, it’s almost like you want me to pull the trigger. I will, you know. Just you watch me. I have killed before, lots of times, and I…” His words dropped away when he saw that Dane was no longer looking at him. He was staring at the giant. In fact, they all were, and his slave was staring him. She had lost that faraway look and her standard expression of terror had crawled back onto her face once more. He would have taken comfort in this if it wasn’t for the fact that he realised that her fear wasn’t directed at him, his new acquisition was the cause of her terror.

  “Put it on her,” said Bradley.

  “What?”

  “Can’t you see what it is?” replied the bodyguard. “They’re headphones. Go on, put them on her!”

  Comprehension finally dawned. He smiled, then ordered her over to his side. The giant then performed an action that had never happened to him before. She said no and shook her head. This time, nobody was going to stop Marlon from shooting her dead. He raised his gun only to have Branch slap the weapon out of his hand before grabbing the artefact. He ran over to the slave and put the object on the girl’s head before anyone could react.

  She arched her back and screamed before collapsing. They all ran over to her still body and stood over the woman. It was only the appearance of a grey sphere, the size of a ball-bearing, that caused them to take a couple of paces back. Marlon watched in amazement as the sphere grew larger until it was the size of a small car. It hung, directly under the giant’s head. Marlon looked across at Dane who shrugged back. It appeared that even this was beyond anything that he had encountered before.

  “I can see something now,” said Benedict.

  Marlon swallowed his fear and moved a little closer. He now saw a large green area, full of strange-looking trees, with large white buildings behind. The view then spun until Marlon now saw a long, broad walkway, made of a mosaic of coloured, rectangular stone blocks. He looked down and saw the same but faded and cracked blocks below their feet. “This must be what this place once looked like.”

  “There’s movement in there.”

  He looked up, expecting to see themselves in there. Dane saw movement all right, but it wasn’t then. A dark-skinned, well-built man, holding what looked like a blow-pipe, had entered the walkway beside the man.

  Beside him, Marlon saw somebody a couple of paces away, only he wore the uniform of some early European soldier.

  “Holy shit!” Benedict stared straight at Nelson. “That’s a Spanish conquistador!”

  Nelson nodded. “I think we might have found out what happened here.”

  –

  Her eyelids flickered open. It took a couple of moments for the girl’s thoughts to catch up with her body. By that time, the warm rays from the city’s fusion generator had already started to take away the chill and began to dry out the dew from the grass that had collected on her bare arms and legs.

  She couldn’t have been asleep for that long. A couple of minutes at the most. Any longer than that and she was sure that somebody would have noticed her sleeping form and woken her. The little girl yawned before slowly sitting up. She rubbed the small of her back while turning to the left and then to the right. This couldn’t be right. She couldn’t see anybody else in the park, even the two little boys who she had been playing with when her mother first left her had gone too. They told her that the warden had only just finished building a rope swing at the bottom and they intended to be the first people to play on it.

  She looked across at the direction the giggling boys had run. She saw the rope swing, but there was no sign of them. Perhaps their mother had taken them home, meaning the meeting must have finished. If that was right then where was her mother? Where was everybody else? These sorts of situations never used to bother her. She, like all her friends and family, took life in their stride, to enjoy your existence was to live it. Stress, fear, and worry belonged in the distant past.

  From what she had observed recently, their distant past might have just caught up with them. In the past few cycles, the city meetings had become progressively more frequent. Something was wrong, but because of her young age, nobody would tell her what it was.

  In cycles past, she wouldn’t have been all that bothered at what the grown-ups did and just carried on as normal. What her body urged her to do right now was to laze about in all this luxurious grass a little longer before skipping down to the orchard to pick some of the ripe fruit hanging from those low branches.

  Her wish would not be happening as a barb of uncertainty had just appeared in her guts and whenever she thought about staying here, right away, that barb doubled in size. She just had to try and get into that building or the assembly and see if she could finally discover what the adults were discussing in there.

  She ran through the grass and passed all the trees in the orchard, not stopping once, not even to pick that really juicy-looking paleberry, hanging right by her shoulder. Once she reached the edge of the park, she now saw where the two boys had gone. They obviously had the same idea as she did. They were trying to climb onto the roof of the building of the assembly, and failing miserably.

  Those idiots were going to hurt themselves. She did not intend to sneak inside. Whatever was happening to the city affected everyone, including her and the two boys. She watched the boys for another moment. Now that her mind was made up, she knew that fruit, the one she ignored, could now be taken.

  She waved at the boys, waiting for them to see her before going back into the park to retrieve that paleberry. There’s no way that she could leave that just hanging there. Once her prize was in her hands, she jogged out of the park and didn’t stop until she reached the front doors of the meeting hall. She looked straight at the boys while taking out a huge bite of the fruit. Their twin looks of disbelief when she walked straight up to the front door so made her smile. It almost made her earlier worry fade into insignificance. Almost.

  Without waiting for the boys to catch up, she walked straight through the main doors and made her way down the corridor. She had been here lots of times, but only with her mother. They used to open the meeting place for teaching and games during the holidays. Even so, back then, at least the lights were on at optimum strength. As she slowly walked towards the increasing sound of heated conversation, she so wished that those two boys would catch up with her. The dull lighting began to make her very uneasy.


  It took a lot of effort not to gasp out loud when she did reach the perimeter. She had never seen so many people together before. Everybody in the city must be in the meeting hall. It felt so strange

  The last time she was in here, she and three other girls played a game of running from one end to the other. It took ages to get from one wall to the other. Now, it would be impossible to move, never mind run about.

  There was no sign of her mother. In fact, apart from the backs of the people in front of her, she saw nobody she knew. The voice coming from somewhere at the front came from the mouth of their civic leader. She knew him, but without a face, it sounded so odd, although that might have been because it sounded so sad.

  This was a little boring. She was so tempted to go back to the park and wait for all this adult stuff to finish. This thought took hold and she turned around to leave when she caught sight of the two boys sneaking down the corridor. Unlike her, the boys were not so subtle with their movements and voices. The pair of them saw the assembled crowd and let out a frightened squeal, causing the end row to spin around. Even that disembodied voice went silent.

  The boys were about to flee when the voice asked some of the adults to bring the children closer. He also asked two more adults to bring the others in here as well.

  The crowd parted, and the girl was hushed towards the front where her mother waited. She smiled at the girl before scooping her in her arms and giving her a tight cuddle.

  This was so much better that eating paleberries. All that spoiled her perfect moment were so many sad faces.

  She hoisted up onto her mother’s shoulder where, finally, she saw the civic leader on the stage along with several other solemn-looking men.

  Without realising it, that shard of worry had set up a home in her guts. This was bad, really bad.

  The civic leader looked directly at her. “Perhaps we should have invited you and your friends right at the beginning?” He then turned to the whole crowd and spread his arms. “My only regret is that we should have reached this decision when the time of the first invasion of the little people. Our ancestors lived in the hope that nature would have realised her mistake and rectified it. That did not come to pass.”

  “But they’re not a problem and maybe these new ones will not stay?”

  The civic leader looked straight at the voice in the crowd. “This is the question posed by our ancestors all those thousands of cycles in the past. It is true that the original invaders found their path. The new invaders are too troubled inside. The only path they will follow is one of violence, murder, and destruction.” He sighed. “They are now about us and have already begun to look for routes which lead to our city.”

  A collective groan rose from the crowd when a viewscreen behind the civic leader showed two little people picking their way through one of the caverns. One of them looked just like she imagined little people to look, but the other one wore red fabric and shiny metal plates. One look at the device clasped in his hand told her that this one just had to be evil.

  “Our race will be reborn. This our destiny, our purpose.”

  “Our goal,” replied everyone in the assembly room.

  She watched everybody slowly walk out if the room. She saw her three friends and she waved. Neither of them waved back.

  Before long, only her mother remained. She gently placed the girl back on the floor and crouched in front of her. “Do you understand what is about to happen?”

  Hot tears ran down her cheeks. “Will it hurt? I don’t want it to hurt.”

  Her mother shook her head. “Move, you won’t feel a thing. You will close your eyes and when you open them, we’ll all be together again on the surface, and they’ll be no little people and all the paleberries you can eat.” Her mother asked her to open her mouth. She placed a small green pill on the tip of the girl’s tongue and asked her to swallow it.

  –

  Marlon took his eyes off the viewscreen and watched his slave’s eyes flicker open. She coughed before slowly sitting up. She pulled the device from her head and threw it behind her.

  “Then what happened?”

  “The death pill or whatever it was obviously didn’t work,” snapped Dane while glaring at Marlon.

  “I woke up and found myself lying in the middle of the assembly hall,” she replied. “The lights were fading. In less than a cycle, only a single emergency light worked. Its dull glow cast everything in a dirty, red light. Even with that single light, I knew that I was alone. Outside the building showed me the same scene. All the people had gone, leaving me in a broken city all in this dull red shadow.”

  “Wait, what do you mean by broken?”

  The giant looked at Nelson. “Nothing worked anymore. In the final order, the civic leader had shut down everything, except for the few remaining lights. They’ll stay on for as long as the upworld sun shines.”

  “So, they’re all dead?” asked Marlon.

  She nodded. “Yes, they knew that your chaotic and murderous ancestors would stop at nothing to possess what we owned, so the civic leader ensured that all our technology would no longer work before they all committed the final act.”

  “Jesus,” said Bradley. “Talk about overkill. Your people could have wiped them all out without breaking into a sweat, girl. To kill all of yourselves is just,” he shook his head in dismay, “it’s just a senseless waste.”

  “Not everything is junk,” said Dane. “That thing we put on your head still worked and that device which Nelson had worked too.”

  The girl nodded. She hung her head. “We obviously weren’t as perfect as we chose to believe.” She looked straight at Dane, her face crumpled up in misery. “I didn’t die like the others and I spend all these thousands of cycles having to live with you violent savages.”

  “So, they’re all dead?” Marlon repeated. He aimed his gun at Nelson. He would be the first one to get it. Marlon had never really liked that one anyway. All gazes were now fixed on his gun, which was exactly how it should be. He licked his lips. “See, if my slave is the only one left, then why on Earth do I need you anymore?” He nodded once, and his men followed his actions. “I’d say that it’s been a pleasure but it hasn’t at all.”

  “Don’t you bloody dare!” yelled Dane. He marched right up to Marlon, seemingly oblivious to the three pistols following his movements. “Think about this for a moment, you stupid fatty fool!” He glared at Branch. “If she is the last one, then where did he come from?”

  Branch giggled before nodding a couple of times.

  “Don’t you get it? He is a chimera, a hybrid. One of his parents must have been just like her!” he announced while pointing at his slave.

  “Yeah, you got me, fellas. My mum was a giant too.” He winked at Marlon’s slave. “Weren’t a pretty as you, though. Still, I should be glad it weren’t the other way around. Not that would have been a bit of a tight squeeze out!”

  “No, don’t tell them!” shouted the slave. “You can’t do it.”

  Marlon watched this exchange with interest. Despite her silly protests, he was going to tell him exactly what happened to his mother. He had no choice. Marlon swung the pistol until he had her head within his sights. “You can shut up!” he screamed.

  Marlon yelped out in pain when Branch suddenly snatched the pistol out of his hand.

  “No use for any more threats to the pretty lady from you,” he said. Branch tucked the gun into the back of his trousers. “I’ll take you to her, and her pals, if that’s what you want.” He giggled. “But only if you really want this.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dane stayed silent while the group traversed through this ancient city. This decision was purely out of respect for the giant woman. That childhood snapshot helped him to mentally reconstruct these gutted buildings, to restore them to their former glory. He would have given his right leg to have been able to walk down these glorious boulevards, to gaze at the magnificent buildings at either side, to watch the children as tall as h
im climb those strange trees, to smell all the alien spices as well as gawp in amazement at the energy source high above him which made life under the ground possible in the first place.

  It must have been paradise.

  He couldn’t imagine the pain that the giant must be in right now. This was her home. She had experienced all those delights. Dane took a deep breath. She had also suddenly found herself utterly alone in a deserted and dead city.

  Nelson had found something next to the corner of one of the ruined buildings. He brushed away the dust before handing it the Dane. The old man had just discovered the probable reason as to why nothing down here remained intact. Dane rolled the bronze spear tip in his fingers before handing it back to the old man.

  How had she reacted when she saw all those little people running riot through her city and stealing anything that wasn’t nailed down? The image of the Inca smashing up this beautiful city didn’t really sit right with Dane. After all, it’s exactly what the Europeans had just done to them. Spaniards though, he knew they wouldn’t have hesitated. The thought of finding a Nephilim city under the earth must have really messed with their heads, but it wouldn’t have been strong enough to ransack it, hunting for gold.

  She would have hidden away, obviously.

  Branch came to a sudden stop next to a blank, grey wall. The giant pushed her way through the guards who tried to stop her. She grabbed the front of the hybrid’s jacket and warned him not to do this. He paused for a moment before shaking her off while giggling.

  “We have to do this,” he replied. Branch’s fingers danced along the side of the wall and a section slid away. “Yeah, we so have to do this. Come on, fellas, this is going to be so much fun!”

  Dane had no choice but to follow them inside. Unlike the giant, he couldn’t casually brush away the other men as if they were nothing more than puppies.