by Ian Woodhead
‘Oh fuck.’
It didn't matter where it had come from, it appeared that weaponry looked pretty much the same. The tube structure panned across the landscape, until it pointed directly at Dave.
‘You really don't know who you're messing with!’ he shouted into the comms. ‘The others will come back here and kick your ass for here to…’
Before Dave Hamilton could finish his last ever sentence, the ancient Mech turned the astronaut into a stream of energised particles. It could not return to its slumber as the Mech's sensors had already picked up more lifeforms heading towards this location. It did not deploy its protective armour, nor did it retract any of its limbs. The lifeforms did not pose any danger. The Mech cycled up both cannons and waited.
Chapter One
Two Hundred Years Later
Ryan Yates stopped beside the kerb. His girlfriend, Bernice Grey, had now reached the beginning of her usual work's lunchtime conversation. He suspected that this particular time segment of her previous day's documentary could take her another hour to get through. He smiled to himself, judging from her heated emotional states, Ryan might even get away with not having to nod or shake his head in all the right places.
That was fine by him. It meant he could watch tonight's sky lights without fear of being interrupted. Ryan absolutely adored Bernice and would do anything for her but there were occasions when she didn't pick up on his subtle hints, like when to be quiet. He squeezed her hand a little tighter when she tried to cross the empty road without him.
“What are you...oh, I should have known. They're about to start again. I don't understand why you find them so fascinating, it's just basic boring nature.”
They have had this conversation many times in the past. This time, instead of explaining to her that, although he knew that the scientists say that the Night Lights are just another facet of the Aurora Borealis, basically a natural light display, this did not stop Ryan from being totally awe-struck by them.
“You know, my friend says that the sky lights are not a natural phenomenon at all, that it's the work of some shadowy part of the government testing out new weapons.”
Ryan tightened his grip. He hadn't heard that one for a good few years. The most recent subversive notion for the Night Lights were that they were the remains of a planet that some alien civilisation had blown up before they reached their world. Just like the weapons idea, it was all rubbish, made up by people who had nothing else better to in their lives.
“Is this the same friend who told you last week that we evolved from monkeys and the world wasn't flat?”
Bernice shrugged. “Maybe.”
“You didn't believe him, did you?”
“Of course not. Jack just a bit eccentric that's all. Plus, I think he like to show off, he likes the attention, that's for sure.”
“You just be careful, Bernice. People like that end up attracting the wrong kind of attention, believe me.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Ryan. Stop it with the mother hen treatment. He's just some harmless guy at work. He's not one of the Dispossessed or some Rimland terrorist. Jack's been spouting this nonsense for years.”
“Even so, I've known people like that who have found themselves being investigated by the Papal Police and before you know it, they end up getting transported over to the outer colonies. Not just them either. Half their friends vanish too.”
“Will you stop being to melodramatic? You've put me right off my stride now. I've totally forgotten what I was about to tell you.”
Ryan wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or anxious. This tale about her fellow workmate, Jack, was going to bother him all night now and he wasn't being melodramatic at all. The Papal police really were cracking down on the subversives, the malcontent and those individuals who seem to be obsessed with spreading fake news and false rumours. He took his attention away for the sky, gazed into her large brown eyes and smiled. “I’m sorry, Bernice. I didn't mean to sound so hyper. I've not had the best of days.” He leaned closer and gave her a quick kiss. “I'll tell you what, why don't I buy you dinner? There's a new restaurant that's opened on the other side of town and I've been told that they do a really nice steak. My treat.”
“What are you after?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “I just thought it seemed like a good idea, that's all. I mean we were going for a drink in town anyway. Try to see this as a drink but with good food.” What Ryan was after was for both of them stop talking about stuff that was borderline dangerous. He also intended to find out a little bit more about this Jack character over dinner as well. Just to see if he really was as harmless as Bernice made out.
“Okay, but only if you promise me not to look into the sky tonight. I swear, there are times when I almost believe that you're not even listening to me.”
He nodded. “It's a deal.” Ryan led her across the road and took Bernice through the town's high street, now busy with other people sitting in one of the many outdoor cafes, either eating, drinking or generally chatting. They passed the bar where Ryan originally intended to take her, peeking into the window as they passed. He didn't recognise anyone, not that made much difference. Like the rest of this town, nobody was really a stranger, at least, not after a couple of drinks.
Ryan slowed down as they reached the last shop on the high street. He turned around and gazed down the road. Ryan counted around forty people. He turned to Bernice. “Look at them, honey, and tell me what you see.”
She shrugged. “I don't know. People having a drink?”
Bernice didn't understand. He never really expected her to either. She, like most of the people here, were all so lucky. Ryan saw it alright. The people down there were happy, they were content and focussed their leisure activities on just generally having a good time, just how it should be.
Their kind and benevolent High Bishops and the Papal police who carefully tended the Bishops' flock, classed this time as the Great and Bountiful Human Era and it was, compared to the hell on Earth which preceded it. All the people down there, enjoying their drinks, happy and carefree, had no idea of what the land was once like just two centuries earlier.
Back before the Final Reunification, the separate nation states were at constant war, sending out their young men to die in pointless conflicts. Destroying their enemy's civilian centres of population with nuclear missiles and before that, half the planet's population starved while evil men paraded in front of their sycophants, and everyone only worshipped the God of greed and power.
“My feet are starting to hurt. Can we not go back to the bar? It's getting cold as well.”
“We're nearly there. Not long now.”
Ryan counted in his girlfriend as one who had no clue as to what this world was once like. He had wondered how Bernice and her group of friends would react if they did know the truth. Perhaps, those individuals, screaming for attention by shouting out borderline blasphemous words and slogans might even cease and desist if they knew that the human species had never had it so good.
The warm glow coming from the restaurant's front window, placed a smile upon his face. The place looked quiet too. That pleased him, although Bernice had no problem with crowds, thanks to the residual effects from his last profession, too many people around Ryan made him feel a little uneasy.
“There you go, almost here. You'll soon warm up.”
Bernice, jumped in front of him, grabbed his other hand then reached up to kiss his face. “You know, you really are sweet to me.” she kissed him again.
“Two kisses?”
“Yeah, well. You promised not to look into the sky and you didn't!” She laughed. “If the food in here is as nice as you promised, there might even be three kisses in it for you.” Bernice winked. “Plus a little something extra.”
“Four kisses?”
Ryan's training instructor once said that people who don't learn the mistakes of the past will always repeat them. He also said that if people are not aware of the past and instead
guide along the correct path instead, then the mistakes will simply cease to exist.
How would Bernice react if she ever found out that a city called Birmingham once stood upon this ground and its ruins are still here, buried under her beloved town of New Haven? How would she react if Bernice found out that her ancestors survived the cobalt bomb which wiped out almost a million innocent souls? How would his girlfriend respond is she discovered that Ryan 's direct ancestor sent the missiles over? Something told Ryan that he could wave goodbye to the chance of that promised fourth kiss.
Their society should only focus on the present and the future. The past held nothing but tears, regret and misery. Best leave it buried, like the rubble of that ancient city beneath their feet. This is what his commanders taught and it is what he believed.
Ryan stopped beside the next crossing and waiting for a hyperrail pod to whiz past them. Not everyone thought the same as him. There were certain members of their happy society who thought the opposite, that keeping people in the dark about their terrible past made them just as evil as the previous generations. They did believe that in order to grow and florish, the human race must come to terms with their past atrocities, and then grieve for all the untold billions who died so their children could live in paradise. They called themselves The Dispossessed, and if Ryan had any say in the matter, he'd put their pampered little arses onto the next boat heading for the outer colonies and let the sadistic bastards who run the rebuilding camps to knock all the self-righteous fluff out of them for good.
“Ryan? I think we're about to receive company.”
The unease he heard in her tone brought him hurtling back to reality. Ryan spotted them straight away. There were six adults walking towards them in a determined manner. They each carried a white-painted wooden pole which gave away their affiliation and their purpose. “The thoughts of evil shall be made manifest,” he murmured, quoting the last line of a verse from the Good Book of Jacob.
“Are they the Dispossessed?”
Bernice's fingers tightened. Her trembling carried all the way through her finger tips. Ryan nodded. “They are indeed. Do not worry, my dear. They might look intimidating but believe me, it is nothing but show.”
The six men slowed to a stop, blocking the path and standing between them to the restaurant doorway. They must have believed that this charade of passive aggression would intimidate him. They chose the wrong couple tonight.
“Let's go around them, Ryan. Please, I don't want any trouble.”
Trouble could not hear her plea.
“Ryan, what are you doing?”
He stopped a few inches from who Ryan believed to be the chapter leader. He glanced down at the white pole, looked into the man's eyes and sighed heavily. Ryan guessed him to be around twenty-three or twenty-four, and by the look of his posture and body, this clown had never done much of anything too extreme in his life. When Ryan was this guy's age, a decade ago, he was up to his neck in freezing mud, with the other recruits to the Papal order, in the Rimland, while his drill instructor fired live rounds a few inches above their heads.
“Hello there, puppy dog,” said the man. “Are you taking your kitten for walkies, by any chance?”
This brought on a rising tide of derisive giggles from the blond man's pals.
A six-foot, dark haired youth, wearing a brown leather jacket winked at Bernice. “She's a pretty kitten.”
“There's no puppy here,” he replied. “Just a big, bad wolf.” Ryan moved in, until his nose was almost touching blond man's nose. “Turn around and walk away before you get hurt.”
Leather Jacket barked out a harsh laugh. “Won't get hurt? Can you not count? There's six of us.”
Ryan stepped back and nodded at every individual. “So there is. You're right, young man, these are bad odds I'll tell you what I'll do, just to make it fairer, I'll put one hand behind my back. Is that any better?”
Blond man lifted his white-painted pole. “We don't want any trouble. All we want is for the mass to listen to the truth, to understand that...”
Ryan jumped in, snatched the pole out of blond man's grasp, spun it until the business end was level with blond man's nose.
“Hey give that back!”
“You want it?” Ryan caught sight of leather jacket wielding his own staff and jumped back. He pulled the staff back, waited until leather jacket was close enough, then tapped him on the back of the head, not enough to cause any serious damage, but with enough force to convince leather jacket not to try anything else rash. “Drop it now,” he growled. Ryan took his eyes off leather jacket, walked back to blond man, wrapped his hard fingers around the trembling man's wrist and pulled his arm over to the white pole. “Don't look at me like that. Take hold of it, after all, it is yours.”
“Who are you?” he asked.
“He's Knight's Order,” said Leather Jacket, rubbing the back of his head. “Come on, let's get out of here.”
“A wise decision,” said Ryan. “Go home, give your sticks back to mummy and reflect upon what happened here.” He picked up the white pole dropped by Leather Jacket. “This is a small town. It won't take me too long to find out who you are. Any more trouble and you might find yourself waking up and finding me stood at the foot of your bed.” He ran his hand up and down the white polished wood. “It won't be a stick in my hand either.” Ryan threw the pole at Leather Jacket. Who caught it but unlike the others, did not turn around.
“You can't do this. The people have the right to know.”
Before Ryan could reply, the restaurant door swung open. The group moved back, allowing Ryan to see who had just come out. He tried not to grin at the sight of his old friend, Todd Stiles. He was the reason why Ryan had decided to take Bernice to this restaurant. Todd owned it.
“Are you having trouble, Ryan?”
He shook his head. No, just a minor disagreement. These kids were all about to turn around and go home.”
Todd sighed. He reached behind his back and pulled out his old Knight's Order Pandora Cross. Even from this distance, Ryan could see that the close combat baton had a charge running through it.
“The Good Book is waiting for you.” Todd stepped out from the shop's alcove. He placed his feet on the kerb and cupped his hands, holding the Pandora Cross next to his chest. “Regrets 12:23 states knowledge must be earned. Only the foolish and the weak blurt out folly.”
Todd stared straight at Leather Jacket. “Damien, remember the tales of the tide. Remember Shadow 16:2”
All six spun around and ran back up the road. Ryan waited until the last of them had gone before slipping his arm around Bernice and guiding her over to Todd. “This is Bernice,” he said.
The large man placed the Pandora Cross back in its scabbard before stepping back and going down on one knee. “My name is Todd Stiles, and I am the owner of this establishment. My friend said you were a wonder and I see that he was not lying.” He kissed the back of her hand before standing up. “Let me just make sure your table is ready.”
The man vanished inside, leaving the two of them alone. “Are you okay, Bernice? I hope they didn't unsettle you?”
She pulled his arm off her back. “Wait, let me get this straight. You're Knight's Order?”
“Was. I retired a few months before I was fortunate enough to meet the love of my life and fall in love with her.”
She threw up her hands. “Stop that, just no. Ryan, were you ever going to tell me? I mean. You know almost everything about me and...” She took a deep breath. “You know, I think I want to go home now please.”
Ryan had been dreading this moment for a long time. “If you knew beforehand, Bernice, you would have given me your famous pretend smile, taken my offered drink and vanished into the crowd. I would have never seen you again!”
“But, but you kill people, Ryan!” she gasped. “No, please don't give me the sad face. I'm sorry, but I...” Bernice turned away and sobbed. “Please. Take me home.”
He walked over to her and
gently placed his hand on her shoulders, feeling a piece of his heart shrivel and die when Bernice physically cringed. “I don't kill people,” he said, lying. Our job was just to protect people like you. That's all. To seek out the ones who strayed away from Jacob's path and help them to repent before their re-integration.” He gently turned her around and wiped away the tears running down her cheeks. She didn't stop him so he took that as a good sign. The Papal police ensure that idiots like The dispossessed don't become too much of a nuisance to our civilians and the Knight's Order are there to bring back the ones who somehow slip through the net.” Ryan bent down and kissed her lightly. “We are nothing more than shepherds. Now, are you sure you want to go home or will you allow me to take you into my friend's restaurant?”
“I don't know.”
Ryan took her hand, turned her around and slowly walked her towards the door. “Let's get you warmed up, Bernice.”
Chapter Two
The Beginning of the Start
Nothing that Ryan had said during the excellent food had helped to calm her mood. Bernice had sat opposite him, pushing crab, salad and breadsticks into her mouth, chewing then swallowing before repeating the process. He didn't think that the woman was even tasting the food. This had been a bad idea. Why did he take her back home just like she asked? Ryan looked up from staring into the middle of the glass of warm beer that he'd been nursing for the past ten minutes. That question did not even need an answer. He knew deep down that complying with her initial request would mean this relationship would be dead in the water.
“I've not seen a face that morose for a very long time.” Todd placed his fingers over Ryan's wrist, he gave it a comforting single squeeze before he sat down opposite him. “I'm proud for you as well as a little jealous, my friend. She really is a beautiful woman.” Todd turned his head towards the bar where Bernice was leaning on the counter and drinking her Scotch and lemonade alone. “Why don't you go and ask her to dance?”