Boundary (Field Book 3)
Page 1
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Copyright © Simon Winstanley 2017
Simon Winstanley asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
First Edition
ISBN-13: 9781976175503
ISBN-10: 197617550X
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017914301
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
North Charleston, South Carolina
11110 110 1000 0111
0110
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CONFLUENCE: 21st December 2112
DESCENT: 24th December 2013
ESCA: 23rd November 7120
MASS: 13th April 2014
ORIENTATION: 28th December 2013
USV: 21st January 2014
VALENTINE’S DAY: 14th February 1952
STORYKILLER: 11th July 1991
51VA: 13th February 1952
SUPERIOR: 28th December 2013
INTRUSION: 10th October 1957
REGISTRATION: 22nd August 1966
MICE AND MEN: 5th April 1989
MINUTE ONE: T-09:13:00
CHANGE: ~
LEAP: 29th December 2013, 2 a.m.
CATHY GANT: 4th July 2076
CLOCK: T -07:05:21
ANALYSIS: 13th April 2014
DAY ONE: DAY01 : 31JUL2017
DUSK: 21st January 2014
THE FIRST GUARDIAN: 23rd November 7141
THE MARK IV: DAY01 : 31JUL2017
ZERO FOUR FIVE: 13th April 2014
ELEMENT: ~
ANCHOR: 28th December 2013
FIRST DAY: 6th September 1976
MIKE SANDERS: 4th July 2076
THE MARK 3: 18AUG2013+46.44 : DAY 701.0
LINEAGE: 18th August 2013
OBSCURA: DAY03 : 05NOV2023
THIRTEEN: 19th March 2015
HYDROGEN: ~
AWAKE: DAY04 : 17FEB2027
NIGHTFALL: 13th April 2014
COMPONENTS: DAY04 : 17FEB2027
CLOSED SYSTEM: 20th March 2015
CORRELATION: DAY05 : 01JUN2030
PATTERN: 13th April 2014
MESSAGE: DAY06 : 13SEP2033
LIFELINE: ~
BOUNDARY: ~
POWERS OF TEN: DAY10 : 05NOV2046
FAI: 20th March 2015
HERITAGE: DAY15 : 01APR2065
CHEN TAI: 4th July 2076
BLACKBOX: 13th April 2014
CIRCLE: 29th December 2013
THE WARREN: 13th April 2014
DISPLACEMENT: 13th April 2014
MILES BENTON: 4th July 2076
INDEPENDENT: DAY18 : 15FEB2073
2076: 4th July 2076
THE EMISSARY: DAY23 : 25AUG2090
ALLIES: 4th July 2076
SAMPHIRE HOE: ~
COMPILE: 13th April 2014
EXTERNAL VARIABLES: 4th July 2076
MARKED: DAY28 : 09APR2107
2107: 9th April 2107
UNITY: 13th April 2014
EXILE: DAY30 : 20DEC2112
21 HOURS: 9th April 2107
PERSPECTIVE: ~
FROZEN: 13th April 2014
WINDOW: ~
GO: 9th April 2107
RING: 13th April 2014
TIMELESS: ~
ADAPT: 13th April 2014
LIGHT: ~
EMERGENCE: 20th December 2112
BUILD: 20th December 2112
FIRE: 20th December 2112
STRING THEORY: ~
2112 2112: 21st December 2112
SIX.FOUR:
CONVERGENCE: 21st December 2112
EXORDI NOVA: 2nd January 7142
PROLOGUE
Against the backdrop of a billion stars, the wide Earth lay surrounded by the remnants of its former moon; a scintillating ring of lunar debris, broken in one place by slowly tumbling, continent-sized rocks.
The lunar fragments claimed by Earth’s gravity had long since wrought their devastation; each impact disfiguring and scarring the planet’s pristine face.
The fragments ejected away from Earth dispersed into the surrounding void; an expanding cloud of former craters and lunar core material.
Into this cloud of lunar projectiles, came a comet.
Unable to withstand the onslaught of a thousand impacts, its singular mass became many. Earth’s generous gravity reached out and pulled a thousand lethal shards towards itself.
Upon collision with the lunar ring, each shard triggered meteoric cascades bound for the Earth below. Once more, the skies were torn by fire-tipped arcs of broiling smoke.
After the fires came the ash that obscured the sun; as the first snows of a new ice age fell, the planet descended into permanent silence.
The change to be made was unprecedented.
She would not do this alone.
CONFLUENCE
21st December 2112
On the circumference of the Arctic Circle lay a small, circular, gravitational hotspot. Anchored to this anomaly was an artificial bubble of space-time, surrounding a spherical structure. The bubble’s radius was now smaller than before, and enveloped the structure more closely.
Immediately outside its impenetrable boundary, exposed to the extreme cold, several of the former occupants had begun work constructing a primitive bridge; a bridge that would allow them to cross the surrounding deep moat and leave the island.
A commemorative stone, damaged almost a hundred years before by a tidal deluge, bore the partial words ‘ARK IV’ and a list of names. Those exposed to the arctic chill painstakingly added new words to the ancient stone and turned to face the statuesque figures within the structure. The once-transparent window of the structure became opaque, obscuring all signs of life inside and casting a cold ethereal glow into the darkness.
Standing immutable in time, the artificial bubble continued its journey towards the future, whilst the former occupants turned to face the pale skies and a thunderous noise from the south. The sound was growing stronger, although there was no storm.
DESCENT
24th December 2013
He didn’t slow his sprint as he rounded the corner. The layers of wet, brown leaves slipped, removing all friction from under his feet and he hit the ground hard, landing on his hip and ribs. For a second he lay stunned, his burning lungs and hard breaths pumping out shots of steam into the cold night air. He could still hear their voices closing in; his lead would not last long. He scrambled to his feet and looked down the alley he’d entered.
All street lighting had been deactivated weeks ago in an attempt to conserve London’s electrical power, leaving the alley bathed in the dim glow of a cloud-covered half-moon.
He sped on, swiftly navigating his way between puddles; there was no point letting in more water through the holes in his shoes. The noise from his hasty footsteps echoed off the close walls as he continued his sprint; a rhythm matching the loud heartbeat in his ears.
Abruptly, the alley ran out and he found hims
elf at a dead end. He briefly snapped his eyes shut in the hope that they’d adapt to the low light. When he opened them a second later, the view wasn’t significantly better but in places there were dim outlines. In one corner was the dark hole of an air vent, its metal grating long since stolen and repurposed. Next to it, he could just make out the rungs of a service ladder, rusted securely into the wall. Perhaps drawing on primitive instinct, he had the strong desire to climb in order to escape the immediate threat.
At the far end of the alley he heard the voices again and, although he couldn’t hear the exact words, he could tell that the group had decided to split up. The sound of fast-receding footsteps died away, leaving only a few pairs of feet slowly scuffling their way along the alley.
Unless he acted soon, he would have to contend with fighting off two or three people, something he knew he couldn’t achieve. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his catapult; little more than a ‘Y’ shaped twig with a thick elastic band. A quick check confirmed he was down to his last two pebbles.
He loaded the elastic band with the larger of the pebbles and, aiming it down the alley, raised it into position. He couldn’t bring down his pursuers with a single stone, but perhaps he could buy himself time. He released the elastic and a moment later the pebble ricochet loudly off the alley wall. In the resulting commotion, he turned and began to climb the ladder as quietly as he could, feeling his way and hoping that each subsequent rung would meet with his outstretched hand.
The footsteps resumed their approach, but he knew it no longer mattered; he’d reached the top of the ladder and, with a surge of effort, he stepped onto a flat level roof. He remained motionless for a few minutes, until the voices below receded again. A creeping cold began spreading through his shoes and he realised that he’d stepped straight into a shallow puddle of rainwater.
“Perfect,” he muttered under his breath, they were his only pair and they would take days to dry out.
Now out of the alley, the ambient moonlight was brighter and he could see his surroundings more clearly; he was on an upper level of the shopping mall. Ahead he could see its domed skylight, the glass broken in one place, no doubt by someone forcing their way in. He trudged over to the hole, scuffing through the broken glass, and peered in. Just inside were metal access steps, offering a way down from his elevated position.
He could retrace his steps and go back down the rusty ladder, but he didn’t want to risk running into his pursuers again so soon.
“Always forwards, Danny,” he muttered his mother’s words, “Never back.”
Avoiding the remnants of glass jutting from the metal frame, he ducked in through the opening onto the metal steps and began to quietly make his way down. He was a little puzzled by how warm it was in comparison to the outside. Shelter was hard to find, and yet a perfectly serviceable, large building had not been claimed by those who so desperately needed a place to live.
He reached the base of the steps and walked into a bright pool of light. Looking up to see the source of the illumination, he saw the Moon framed within the hole he’d climbed through.
He’d heard the far-fetched stories pushed by the media of a moon-base deflecting a comet. He’d also heard that the need to dig for victory against this unseen enemy was simply a precautionary measure in case the space-rock ever hit. But for Danny, it sounded like governments were attempting to distract the population from the problems closer to home of military curfews, rolling blackouts, and war-time rationing of food.
He turned away from the skylight and allowed his eyes to adjust to the gloom of the shopping mall. The bright white walls were bouncing the grey moonlight deeper into the dark structure, illuminating the dead storefronts.
He walked to the handrail and looked out across the different walkway levels that surrounded the open, airy space. Nine months ago, this had been a vibrant place. People had casually strolled from one end of the mall to the other, carrying colourful logo-emblazoned carrier bags. Mannequins in aloof poses had toted the latest fashions and people had queued for hours to get the latest shiny smartphones.
The place had been so alive, but now even the mannequins lay dead and stripped of their clothing. The smartphone shops had long since been looted; not for their technology, which was now useless, but for the metal shelves and items that could prop up the ceilings of dirt tunnels.
Danny had seen the world and people change so quickly. Perhaps, he thought, it had always been this way; but in these more desperate times, civilisation’s veneer had simply been scratched away, allowing human nature to be seen more clearly.
It was exactly this sort of philosophical debate that he used to hear many months ago. Local parents, wanting to do something positive for their children, had commandeered the basement of a large, abandoned hotel construction project nearby. The basement itself contained an unfilled luxury swimming pool; the shallow end had been used for conversation and games, whereas the deep end had been used for thoughtful debate, discussion and even poetry on the new social order. Typically this attracted the twenty-somethings, of which he’d been one. However in the last few months it had undergone changes: ‘The Gene Pool’ was now attracting a more rebellious element, intent on converting existential angst into an easy trade of different vices. Although Danny still went there, he would usually avoid the lower levels in favour of the emptier upper floors, where he could talk with his friends.
Cloud cover began to dim the available light and Danny knew he’d need to find a way out of the deserted mall while he could still see. He crossed the walkway to look for the stairs, taking care to move as quietly as possible. Again it struck him as very odd that this prime living space was so quiet and unoccupied.
He took one last look at the glazed dome, set within the high ceiling of this cathedral-like space, then pushed open the stairwell door.
Unsurprisingly, the stairs were pitch black, meaning he’d have to use his LED light. Batteries were too costly to replace now so, as ever, he used it sparingly; briefly illuminating a few feet ahead of him to check for obstacles, before turning if off and then moving on in the dark. He managed to reach the base of the stairs using only four light flashes.
The stairs led out onto the former food court and supermarket area. He remembered that long ago he’d seen staff members taking cigarette breaks by the supermarket’s fire exit. As that exit was on the opposite side of the building to where he’d been chased, it made sense to leave that way.
Navigating by careful flashes of LED light, Danny made his way through the deserted supermarket aisles. There was of course no sign of any food and even the shelves had been removed, leaving behind only skeletal portions of metallic framework; though why these hadn’t also been salvaged, he didn’t know.
Under the dust that covered the chequered floor, were dried dark stains. People had actually drawn blood, he thought, battling for tinned goods. The light from his LED flash fell on a long-faded sign proclaiming ‘March Madness! 2for1 on all green-labels’. To have fought for this was madness, he thought. He kicked the faded promotion aside and headed for the ‘Emergency Exit’ sign on the wall.
He walked down the narrow steps and saw that there was a flickering orange glow ahead. He recognised the light immediately as the sort that came from an oil drum campfire; evidently he was close to the exit. He would have to excuse himself to anyone gathered around it and then leave as quickly as possible. Generally, people were possessive over their fires; after all, they were burning their own resources to ward off the cold.
He reached the end of a short corridor but instead of exiting into the open air, he entered a closed room. Several people were gathered around a small fire, all of them facing a large man who had his back to Danny.
An adolescent-looking boy spotted Danny and spoke to alert the group, “Er… Shane?”
The man reacted and, turning away from the fire, slowly advanced a few steps towards Danny. The man cleared his throat and then spoke loudly for all in the room to hear.
“We move separately.”
“But as one,” the others replied in unison.
The man was looking expectantly at him, as though anticipating a reply.
Danny didn’t know what he’d wandered into, but knew he had to get out as quickly as possible. He held up his hands in a gesture of apology.
“Look, er… Shane?” Danny tried using the man’s name and began to back away, “I got chased by a bunch of curfew thugs, I didn’t mean to inter… I mean I’m really sorry, I -”
He was interrupted by the room’s only door being slammed shut behind him.
Danny whipped round to see that another of their group, one he hadn’t even seen when he’d mistakenly entered the room, was now standing with his arms crossed in front of the door.
“Look, I’ve not got much…” Danny began to empty his pockets, “You can take it, it’s yours, I-”
“Hold him,” said Shane, quietly.
The others reacted instantly, bringing him to his knees and preventing him from struggling free.
“I need to send a message,” Shane removed the glove from his right hand and walked towards him.
Danny’s heart was hammering, escape was clearly impossible. The best he could do now was to comply with anything asked of him.
“Just tell me… tell me the message,” Danny could feel his throat constricting with panic, “I.. I can remember anything you -”
“You won’t need to remember a single thing,” Shane held up his hand for Danny to see. A raised circular burn mark on the back of his hand stood proud of the surrounding skin.
He recognised the symbol immediately and, despite the room’s heat, he felt his blood turn to ice. Shane, presumably spotting his look of wide-eyed terror, smiled then walked back to the fire. Watching helplessly, Danny saw him put the glove back on and retrieve something small from the grate above the fire. It was obviously hot, because the glove began to smoulder.
As if taking this as a cue, two within the group seized Danny’s right hand and held it in place. Using all his bodyweight he tried to break free of their vice-like grip, but the sheer strength of the others surrounding him was too great. As they closed in even further, he found himself screaming for help.