I got up and began to head back to where I’d left Malyn. While on my way another vehicle appeared over the hill, much closer than the others had been. I hit the dirt instantly, flattening myself and hoping that I’d made myself invisible. As they passed, I saw that the vehicle was a grey Humvee, and protruding from the top was a soldier in the familiar grey uniform of Ascension. They passed without looking in my direction, continuing on and linking up with the other vehicles closer to the fires a short time later.
I ran back to Malyn and helped her get to her feet.
“Well, now we know who they are,” I said.
“Yeah. So why don’t we head over there for a chat?”
“You want to go and meet them, now?” I said. “Why?”
She gingerly placed her weight on her ankle again. “Because if they have a transport heading back to Ascension City, we can hitch a ride.” She raised her eyebrows. “Y’know, since you’re in such a hurry.”
I stood and watched her, wondering if perhaps she was still trying to get the upper hand on me, if this was perhaps some ploy to catch me by surprise. What she said made sense, however. If she was going to betray me, it wouldn’t matter if she did it here or when we reached the city. Sooner or later she would have to hand me over to Ascension, and that would be the moment of truth.
“Come on, man. I’m not going to screw you over,” she said, reading my mind. She gave me an exasperated look. “I’m not.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
We crossed the plain. For much of the time the vehicles paid us no attention, sticking to their patrol routes as if they were more fixated on following their own tracks than confronting interlopers. There eventually came a point, some arbitrary juncture that we crossed, that made them decide to come and investigate our presence. One of the Humvees roared into action, its tyres propelling streams of dirt behind it as it veered in our direction, and it bore down upon us with the suddenness of an angry ant stirred into a frenzy.
It slid to a halt not far away and three clanks came swarming out of it, their uniforms streaked with the black gunk that fell from the skies.
“Identify yourselves,” a soldier yelled as he disembarked, his rifle held at the ready.
“My name is Malyn,” the woman said, raising her hands. “I’m returning from a mission in the south. I was providing ancillary support to Fireteam Charlie when they fell to Marauders.”
“The entire damn platoon fell to Marauders,” the soldier said. His head was shaven and I could see a dark discolouration on one side of his scalp through the grime, like a human birthmark.
“I know,” Malyn said. “We fell back to the rally point but it had been destroyed, too.”
“How’d you make it out?”
“Just by luck, man. We could’ve easily ended up in the dirt like the rest of them.”
“Who’s this?” he said, his eyes flicking to me and then back to Malyn.
“A new recruit,” she said. “He helped me get out of there. Figured Cabre might have a use for him.”
“For what? Doing his taxes?” He smirked at me, and the two soldiers behind him laughed. “Looks pretty scrawny.”
“That’s for Cabre to decide,” Malyn said, ignoring the jibe.
“Yeah, whatever.” He jerked his head over his shoulder. “Get outta here. You shouldn’t be here. You’re lucky we didn’t put a hole in your fuckin’ heads.”
“Hey,” Malyn called as he turned to leave. “Do you have anyone heading back to AC? Thought we might catch a ride if you do. We’ve been walking a long way.”
“Do we look like a goddamn taxi service to you, lady? No, you can’t catch a ride. We’ve got better things to do than take civilians for joyrides.”
“The fires,” I called out suddenly, and the soldier raised his eyebrow at me, as if surprised that I had dared to speak. “What are they?”
The soldier gave Malyn a quizzical look. “What planet did this guy come from?”
“He’s not from around here,” she said with an apologetic grin.
“Yeah, no shit.” He turned back to me. “They’re oil wells, dumbass. What do you think, we lit some campfires to warm our fingers?”
“So why are they on fire, then?”
He just shook his head and glanced back to Malyn. “Take this guy and throw him back in the wasteland, huh?” He turned to go.
“Tell me,” I called after him. “I need to know.”
He proceeded back toward the Humvee along with his companions, climbing inside and slamming the door behind him. As I approached he glared out at me through the open window as the vehicle started up again.
“You aren’t going away, are you?” he yelled over the noise of the engine, exasperated. “All right, I’ll break it down for you, nice and simple. These oil wells were controlled by Marauders until a couple of years ago. That’s how they kept fuelling their vehicles all this time. They found a way to pump the oil again, and they took control of it. Ascension started taking the wells back one by one, and eventually we got pretty much all of ’em.” He smirked. “The Marauders didn’t like that, but try as they might, they couldn’t take them back again. So they started making raids on them. Lost a lot of numbers, but they succeeded in blowing up a lot of wells, too. We’re here to stop them getting the rest. And that’s the whole story. You happy now?”
“Why haven’t you capped them?” I shouted back.
The soldier just shook his head and indicated for his companion to hit the gas.
“Get the hell out of here,” he said, and I was forced to dodge out of the way as the Humvee spun past. They disappeared in a spray of sticky dirt.
“I guess that’s the only answer you’re gonna get for now,” Malyn said.
“Yeah. Seems like it.”
“So are you satisfied? You found out what they are.”
I looked at her. “Satisfied? No. It still doesn’t get me any closer to putting the fires out.”
“Why are you so hell bent on doing that? I don’t understand.”
I rubbed my chin, lost in thought. “Something like this happened once. There was a war, and one of the sides lit up a whole bunch of oil wells for some reason. It made the daytime as black as night for the whole region, just like it is here.”
“During the White Summer?”
“No. This was an old war, a long time ago. Somewhere in the Middle East, I think.”
“So how did they put the fires out?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Maybe they just burned out after a year or two.”
I shook my head. “I can’t wait that long.”
I stood there as a feeling of hopelessness descended upon me. I’d come all this way only to discover that the solution to the problem was now even further out of my grasp. With much of the technology of old lost or destroyed in the Summer, was it even possible to extinguish these fires?
“Well, we’re not getting anything done by standing here,” Malyn said. “Come on. Ascension City is still a few hours’ walk away. Let’s get going.”
The glow of the fires receded behind us, only to be replaced by a new source of illumination – a slash of brilliant white that speared upward from the earth and stretched far into the cloudy sky.
“Another spire,” I said.
“Yeah. It’s built right into the middle of the city,” Malyn said. “It only seems to work now and again, though. It’s dark most of the time.”
“So they can’t keep this one up, either.”
She gave me an almost playful whack on the arm. “Maybe you can fix that, Cleanskin.”
“Remember,” I said harshly, “not a word of that to anyone in the city. That’s between you and me. It’s part of our deal, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t even know how to make that thing work.”
Malyn shrugged. “If you say so.”
As we moved closer I began to see the shapes of buildings appear, their faces dark
but their edges bright where the light of the spire splashed across them in glowing outlines. Many of the structures were eroded and incomplete, as I’d grown accustomed to seeing in my years of wandering through the desert, but here I witnessed something else as well – tall rectangles that were perfectly formed and pristine, perfect arches and corners, as if a whole and complete city had been superimposed on top of the old.
It took me a few moments to comprehend what I was seeing.
“They’re rebuilding it,” I said in wonder.
“Yeah, they are.” Malyn smiled at my reaction. “Not the kind of thing you see every day, is it?”
“I don’t remember the last time I saw something like this.”
She waved a hand before her. “This is the future, Cleanskin. This is only future for clanks like you and me. The way forward.”
Seeing for the first time the enormity of that which Ascension were capable of, I began to believe that perhaps she was right.
Part Two
A New War
11
We found the highway that led to Ascension City and followed as it wound its way ever closer to the towering structures therein. Although potholed and in need of repair, the highway made a nice change from slogging through dirt and sand and we began to make better progress.
The activity around the city ramped up significantly as we neared. For a time there was just the odd soldier making his way along the side of the road, eyeing us suspiciously or stopping to ask our business before allowing us to proceed. Soon we saw any number of rovers start to appear: civilians hauling loads of debris out to a dumping ground, workmen erecting scaffolding, others digging trenches and pits. They watched us only long enough to ascertain that we posed no threat to them. Once that was done they continued on with their labours, disinterested.
“Quite the hive of activity,” I remarked.
“No one sits still for long around here,” Malyn said. “That’s pretty much the first thing you learn here.”
“Was there a city here that they’re rebuilding, or did they start this all from scratch?”
“No, there was a city. There wasn’t much left of it, though, from what I’m told. What you see now is mostly newly constructed.”
The Grid spire abruptly winked out soon after, leaving nothing but the dull yellow afterglow that I’d witnessed from the other spire closer to home. Initially I thought the city had been plunged into complete darkness, but as my eyes adjusted I realised that there were in fact many smaller pinpricks of light appearing all across the city, glimmers of yellow and red that flickered like candles from ground level right up to the top of the tallest structures. In the gloom it almost appeared like a mountainside dotted with campfires.
Among them I also saw slashes of white that swept back and forth like flashlights, illuminating patches of metal and scaffolding and then darting away again to some other target.
“Heads up,” Malyn said suddenly. I returned my gaze to the road to see that we were almost upon the first checkpoint, around which a number of soldiers, Humvees and transports were arrayed behind rough-hewn barricades. A broad wall built of concrete and metal ramparts rose up out of the dirt and disappeared into the distance on either side.
“State your business,” a voice came over a loudspeaker.
Malyn stopped and placed a hand on my chest to keep me from moving forward.
“Malyn,” she called out. “Returning from a mission with Fireteam Charlie.”
The loudspeaker crackled as if someone were about to speak, but there was a hesitation. After a moment, the voice said, “Hold th–” The last word was indistinct, drowned out by more static.
“Is this normal?” I said.
“Yeah, don’t sweat it.” Malyn’s voice was even, but I could tell she was edgy by the way she shifted her feet. “They’re pretty cautious around here.”
One of the soldiers emerged from behind the barricades and jogged toward us, a rifle held at his side. Like most of the Ascension troops, he was large and heavy set, dressed in a grey uniform with two gold chevrons on the breast, and his footsteps thumped loudly on the asphalt.
“Had radio contact from the guys out by the wells,” he called out. “Said you two stragglers might be headed our way.” He motioned with his hand. “Put your arms out. Spread your legs.”
“Uh, might be a bit difficult, man,” Malyn said, lifting her broken arm slightly.
The soldier took the arm and manipulated it roughly, searching for anything that might be concealed beneath and indifferent to her protests and gasps of pain.
“Take it easy, will you?” she said.
The soldier patted down her arms and legs and then repeated the process on me, examining my knife carefully before confiscating it. He also checked my backpack thoroughly and then dropped it back on the ground for me to collect.
“Proceed,” he said simply, stepping aside.
We edged past him as he looked down upon us, like a couple of schoolchildren skulking back to class after remonstrations from their headmaster. He fell in behind us and followed as we neared the checkpoint.
Inside there were a cluster of soldiers undertaking several roles: one peered out into the wasteland through a gadget that might have been infrared binoculars, another sat in a perch with his rifle at the ready, and another stood with a radio to her ear. They each glanced at us with what I thought might be a measure of distrust, eyes narrowed, calculating and assessing. Malyn waved at one with her good hand but he simply looked away, disinterested.
“Friendly bunch,” I muttered.
“They aren’t here to be friendly,” she said.
As we exited the checkpoint, the first soldier stood watching us leave. “Proceed straight to the city. Don’t deviate from the road.”
Malyn hoisted a thumb at him sarcastically. “Sure thing, man.”
“I thought you said you knew these guys,” I remarked once we were clear.
“I said I know the city. What, do you think I’m pals with every single Ascension soldier out there? Give me a break.”
“Well, if not friends, I thought they might at least recognise your face.”
“I know the people who count, not the grunts. That’s all you need to care about.”
“To me, it looks like these guys wouldn’t trust you enough to let you within a block of Cabre.”
“Just leave that to me, Cleanskin. I said I’d get you to him.”
There were no outer suburbs in Ascension City, it seemed. The wasteland led right up to towers as if the outlying areas had been swallowed by dirt. As we neared, the buildings soared above us and the city came alive with the sounds of hammer on steel, the stomp and scrape of boots on scaffolding, shouted orders and replies, and even laughter. I could see figures moving around within the structures, passing horizontally and vertically and before points of illumination where they blotted out the light. The piercing snarl of a drill rang out for a few moments and then stopped.
“What are they building?” I said in wonder.
“What aren’t they building, more like it. Whatever Cabre wants, I guess.”
A vehicle came rumbling up behind us and we were forced off the road as it thundered past, jostling noisily through potholes. Above the sharp glare of taillights I could make out enough to discern that it was a tanker of some sort.
“What are they shipping in?” I said.
Malyn glanced behind her warily before stepping back onto the road. “Sometimes water, sometimes oil. It depends on what they need. They’re trying to get pipelines established but the Marauders keep messing up their plans. Now and again they still have to ship it in by tanker.” She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “Just watch out for them, huh? They’re goddamn maniacs, some of these truckers.”
“What are they using the water for? Are they growing something?” I wondered, somewhat optimistically, if perhaps there was already vegetation here in the city.
She gave me an odd look. “What the hell are you talkin
g about, Cleanskin? No, they’re not growing anything. It’s being used in manufacturing.”
We reached another checkpoint at the edge of the city and were subjected to the same kind of search as the first. They asked again about our business and where we were headed, and Malyn supplied the same responses. They delayed us for a few more minutes before waving us through at last.
Having passed the last of the gatekeepers, we entered the city proper. Clanks milled about and hurried past in all directions, yammering and shouting and grunting with exertion. A scooter whizzed past, its driver dressed in dusty overalls and staring out at us through oversized aviation goggles like a bug-eyed caricature. Others loaded steel girders onto a transport idling down the street, the clamour of their endeavours echoing up and down the thoroughfare.
Although it was a far cry from the bustle and noise of cities of old, it was still unlike anything I’d seen in decades, and for a moment I couldn’t help but feel that I’d been transported to a different epoch of the world’s existence. There was something bittersweet about those memories. There were still things from the old world that I missed – the sound of laughter, of people exchanging pleasant words, the comforting white noise of the city. However, there were other aspects, such as the crime and the often impersonal nature of the city, that I was glad were gone.
“Change of pace, right?” Malyn said with a grin.
I stepped out the way of a female bustling past with a metal beam balanced on her shoulder. She visibly laboured under the weight of it but showed no sign of slowing down.
“Just a bit,” I said.
“Come on.” Malyn waved at me. “Cabre’s command centre is this way.”
We made our way through gloomy streets, light spilling sporadically from the activity above us to help illuminate our way. In places there were clanks at work at street level as well, patching crumbling mortar and sweeping debris away from sidewalks. The streets were remarkably clean, I noted. I hadn’t seen streets like these in a long time, since before the White Summer. I’d grown so accustomed to ruin and rubble that I felt oddly displaced in this new environment.
The Fires of Yesterday (The Silent Earth, Book 3) Page 9