Finally, the grinding and tearing stopped. An eerie silence and calm descended on the inside of the wrecked craft. Zara lifted her head up slowly from between her knees, and surveyed the devastation. “We’re still alive!” Akio said, as he slowly began to look up. One more interior panel at the back of the cabin broke loose and crashed to the floor. Both passengers jumped.
“Fabio! Are you okay?” Zara shouted. She unfastened her seatbelt, and stumbled over wreckage towards the cockpit. The floor sloped forward, so she had to steady herself on the walls. Akio followed.
“Ugh… I think I’m okay”, Fabio said. He and the copilot were both covered in soil and small rocks. “A window blew in. Look: the nose is halfway into the ground. Are you okay, Pete?”
“Yeah… I’m good. Even though it was my window that gave in.”
“I think it’s safe to say we were very lucky,” Fabio said. “I’m surprised we’re all gonna walk away from this.”
Zara turned and looked at Akio, with anxiety written all over her face. She breathed deeply, and turned back to Fabio. “Look. We’re leaving. We came to go into Lyon and look for our daughter. I wish I knew what to tell you guys to do. I’m not sure where you’ll go, or if there’s even a functioning government anymore that would want to investigate the crash.”
Fabio gulped, and nodded. “Okay. We’ll look after ourselves, ma’am. Go and find her.”
“Thanks, Fabio,” Zara said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for everything. Oh, how do we get out?”
“Open the rear door and activate the emergency chute. As per the safety drills.” He chuckled.
----
Akio and Zara stood halfway between the smashed craft and the eight-lane highway, a hundred meters away. It cut a straight path east, into the city. There was no vehicular traffic, but a stream of disheveled refugees headed outbound on foot. Akio surveyed the vast, round exterior of Lyon, which loomed large in front of them. “Wow…” he said. “Just look at it. It’s a work of art. Those arches must be huge. Each one has a road coming out of it. How far do you think it is?”
Zara shrugged. “Maybe four or five kilometers. We can walk it pretty easily. Let’s go.”
“I wonder what we’ll find when we get there,” Akio said, as they stumbled across the uneven field, towards the road.
“Not sure, but even just knowing we’re within a few kilometers of her makes me feel good.”
“I know what you mean. Even if we did half-kill ourselves and our crew getting here. I’ll try calling her again, on the off chance.”
“Go ahead.”
“Call Kassandra.”
“Network unavailable,” Akio heard.
“Send her a message when it’s back up. Kassie, Mom and I are here in Lyon. We’re looking for you. Please call us when you get this.” Akio and Zara reached the edge of the wide road, and began the trek into Lyon. “Whoa!” Akio said, looking up. “Did you see that?”
Zara squinted. “No. What was it?”
“There are more of them! Look!” He pointed to a stream of half a dozen almost-invisible oval pods, flying directly towards the city, 200 meters up. “Must be vee-tols, with a chameleon-type skin for camouflage.”
“Over there!” Zara pointed. A few hundred meters to their left, a line of arrow-shaped black craft was also streaking towards Lyon, much faster than the pods, heading towards another arch.
Akio’s eyes followed the speeding craft. “Drones. Or missiles.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dissent
“Zu, take a walk with me,” Zan Tang said. The two men had been sitting in a restaurant area, reserved for Seung Yi’s twelve High Councilors, in the very center of Vesta. Full centrifugal gravity was provided. The walls were a pattern of burnt orange and brown, with tastefully recessed lighting. They walked through the largely empty space. “In fact, let’s leave the Council area,” Tang said. The two men took an elevator towards the center of the wheel that held the Council’s chambers. The gravity declined as they rose, until they were weightless. Tang led the way out, and right into a long corridor.
“We are the only two who experienced the old Entara, before the explosion,” Tang said, as they pulled themselves along using a handrail. “What is your perspective on life then compared to now?”
“Honestly, it was much better, then” Tai Zu said. “It was far more open, as the upper castes had constant contact with the rest of humanity via trade and political assignments. Although"—Zu looked downcast—“we were forbidden to teach or speak about life on other planets to anyone else. So, I suppose life wasn’t open for everyone." Tang nodded. “To the lower castes, day-to-day life is probably no different. Bare rock walls, work, and breeding,” Zu said, “But we’re now making feverish preparations to move to Mars. It’ll be like moving from a mud hut into a penthouse.”
Tang stopped pulling himself along, and grabbed Zu’s arm. Looking him in the eye, he said: “I’m going to level with you, Zu. About all I do any more is replay Earth in my simulator. Open, liquid seas. Plains full of animals, of fantastic kinds, roaming free. Mighty, open societies. They don’t agree on many things. But they live fantastic lives; better than even the ruling classes on Entara.”
“It’ll only be six more months, and we’ll have an entire new planet,” Zu said. “Entara will be able to expand without limits. The Master will have regained his rightful place in humanity. And we will have the best residences available, probably in either Old or New Marineris.”
Tang nodded. “Yes. We have spent a hundred and five years working towards this goal. However, in that time, we’ve been suffocated. Not only because we’re completely sealed off from the rest of humanity, but also because the Master’s control is complete. The High Council is that in name only now: we have no power.”
“Yes,” Zu said. “I wonder how everybody will cope when suddenly given the run of a whole planet. Only three Entarans, us two and the Master, know anything other than a life of labor inside barren stone walls. Some of them may go crazy when presented with choices and large, open spaces.”
“Let’s keep moving,” Tang said. “We mustn’t be overheard. There’s a power distribution room about a hundred meters further.” Once the steel door clanged shut behind them, the men were in complete darkness. The humming machines required no lights.
“What is it?” Zu said.
“I’m about to say something you must never, ever tell anybody,” Tang said, “or I’m a dead man.”
“Okay, so why are you saying it?”
“I just feel like it’s the right time to disclose it to somebody, to unburden my soul.”
“Well, your secret’s safe with me,” Zu said.
Tang began. “Stockpiling the materials to build a super weapon was not the main reason my great, great, great, great grandfather founded the Advanced Antimatter Facility. Although, that was the reason he gave the then High Council.”
“No?”
“His hope was that someone would make a mistake with handling the antimatter someday, and would destroy Entara by accident.”
Zu looked stunned. His lips moved slightly, but no words came out. “My God…” he managed, eventually.
“He knew the Master was evil,” Tang said, “and would likely be revived eventually. He foresaw the Master’s desire for relentless expansion into the universe. He wanted, even at the cost of every life on Entara, to make sure that didn’t happen.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Induction
One kilometer before the eight-lane road entered Lyon, it went underground. Akio and Zara were soon walking under the yellow glare of sodium lamps. By this time, they had some company: disheveled people walked in both directions. There was no traffic. They soon came upon a knot of people, forming a rough line. Their tones were tense and urgent. There was a tank and two armored personnel carriers in the background. An army checkpoint. The troops could be heard, asking, “Name? Home town? Purpose of travel? Are you carrying any weapons?” A
kio and Zara looked at each other, and joined the line. Once they had reached the front, they were asked the same questions. “Zara and Akio Nishimura,” Zara said. “We have residences in London, Hong Kong and New York. Please, we’re just trying to find our daughter.”
“Which army are you?” Akio interjected.
“Government forces,” the soldier said, irritably.
“Who’s in control of the city?” Zara asked.
“I can’t comment.” The trooper watched their faces intently for a few seconds. “Okay, step to the right for a scan.” Once they had done so, another officer passed a wand from left to right a meter in front of them. Transparent images of them and their belongings appeared on a midair display to his left. “Go ahead,” he said. “Be warned there is a 6PM curfew.”
“Thank you.” Zara and Akio grabbed their small bags, and continued down the long, dismal tunnel. After a while, Zara stopped, took out her display unit, and opened a midair map of the city. Their location was shown as a dot a little way in from the western edge.
Akio looked at the map. “The highways like this one seem to be sandwiched between the upper and lower levels of the city,” he said. “So, three inhabited levels plus this one. The place is huge. Where do we go?”
Zara looked at him. “I have absolutely no idea. A needle in a haystack is an understatement. That’s if she’s even still here. But, we have to start somewhere.” Akio put his arms around her. They hugged each other, as groups of refugees walked around them.
----
David, Vivianne, Annabelle, Kassandra, and Antonio sat in a row, on metal chairs, under the harsh floodlight that shone down on the center ring on level thirty. To their left stood Lord August, an angry-looking JC. Onlookers sat on the floor around the group and along catwalk E, almost as far back as the deck at the outer silo wall. Other spectators stood on the bridges on levels above, looking down. Lord August had to raise his voice to be heard: “Members of The Excluded, I present to you our newest residents.” He gestured to them with a sweep of his right hand. “Today, they will be sworn in, and will receive the Mark.” Cheers from all around echoed from the gray concrete walls. After a suitable pause, Lord August turned to the inductees. “Do you swear to protect The Excluded with your every breath and sinew, forsaking yourself when necessary in the interests of the community?”
“We do,” they said in unison. Magana beamed from her spot near the front of the crowd.
Lord August continued, “And do you swear to keep our existence secret, even unto death?”
“We do.”
“As well as standing for Excluded, the four points of the X stand for our core values: loyalty, bravery, duty, and submission to a higher authority,” Lord August said. “By receiving this brand, you swear to uphold them as long as you shall live. And by the commingling of blood, you are bound together forever.” The onlookers all stood, and crossed their forearms in front of their faces, to represent an X. Lord August produced a knife, with a round wooden handle. Embedded into the end of this were three Stanley knife blades glued together. He walked over to David, at the end of the row. David held out his right arm, fist closed, and palm down. His teeth were gritted. Lord August took his wrist, and quickly carved two crisscrossing gashes into the flesh. They extended from his elbow to his wrist. David’s face was contorted with pain. Blood poured from the wounds. A young lady in front of him sprang forward and put a towel around his arm, and a plastic container on the ground between his legs to catch any drips. Vivianne held out her arm. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Fresh blood soon poured from her arm also. Another nurse was there immediately, tending to her. The knife was not cleaned between uses. Annabelle, Kassandra, and Antonio received their marks. They all managed to stop themselves from crying out, as cloths were pressed against their wounds. The crowd broke into applause. Despite Lord August’s admonitions to let them have the space to get their wounds dressed, people surged forward.
“Welcome.” “We’re glad you’re here,” they said, clapping an arm around the inductees’ shoulders. There were men, women, and children of all ages.
“Thanks,” David managed. Their eyes became moist at the overwhelming experience.
----
“I bet you never saw this coming when we met on the bus that night,” Annabelle said to David. “Being bound in a blood oath in an underground silo!” It was two days after the ceremony. They were leaning over the railing on level twenty-four. She held her right forearm, still bandaged, next to his left arm.
David snorted. “No, I sure as heck didn’t!” After a moment, he continued, “When we got here I thought this place was basically comprised of different groups of hobos, but it’s not. It’s organized and purposeful.”
“I don’t really want to be excluded from society,” Annabelle said. “But, any port in a storm.” David nodded. “What do you want to do here, as far as duties go?” Annabelle said.
“They said they’d assign us duties when we first got here, but it hasn’t happened yet for some reason,” David said.
“Do you think they’re testing us?”
David shrugged. “Could well be. They’re probably waiting to see where our interests lie. I’m most interested in the Electrician role.” He stood up straight and became more animated. “It’s cool how they power this place. There are induction coils around the conduits that supply electricity to the lights on each platform. They siphon off power. But here’s the clever part: the current’s too low to directly power anything that takes a lot of watts. So, they use it to trickle charge big batteries. They then use those to run things like stoves and hoists.”
Annabelle raised her eyebrows. “Huh.”
“They’re a resourceful lot, I’ll give them that,” he said, with a smile.
“Yes they are.”
“Kassie seems to have made her mind up what she’s doing,” David said. “She’s going after the Defender thing in a big way. Viv’s probably going to end up teaching preschool, not least so she can be with Etienne.” Annabelle nodded. “Antonio’s trying his best not to do anything, it seems.”
Annabelle scowled and began to turn red. “That guy irritates me so much. He expects everything to be done for him, and that he’ll never have to get his hands dirty. I’m sorry, but that’s not how this place works. Nor life in general.”
“Right. But, life has a way of teaching people the lessons they need to learn.”
----
“I’m already hot,” Antonio complained, “and I’ve only had this thing on for five minutes.” He was dressed from head to toe in a white hazmat suit, with a face visor and respirator.
“You’ll get used to it,” the man standing in front of him said. He had a wide face and receding hair, still thick on top, brushed back. His forehead bore deep lines. “I’m Seth, by the way.” He was already halfway into his suit. “We’ll be on our way down soon.” Antonio turned around and looked, with a disgusted expression, at his means of transport. It was a gray tub, like a Dumpster with no lid, made of thick plastic, roughly three meters by two. It was suspended, from above, half a meter out from the railing of the walkway he now stood on. The inside was caked with a thick layer of black dirt. “Go ahead and jump in,” Seth said.
A loud sigh was heard from Antonio’s respirator. “Uh… okay…”
“Use the ropes for balance.” The main line suspending the tub was a one centimeter-wide strand of steel, which split off into four other lines, one for each corner. Antonio climbed up the first two bars of the railings. “Oh God,” he said, looking down into the darkness.
“It’s okay,” Seth reassured him. “Stop looking down. Grab the rope to your left. The tub’ll spin a little bit, but it can’t go too far. Then just jump in.” Antonio blew air out slowly through puckered lips. Then he did as Seth instructed. The skip bucked and spun a little from Antonio’s weight. The end bumped into the railing, which arrested the movement. “There you go!” Seth said. “I’ll finish suiting up on the way
down.” Seth hopped nimbly in beside Antonio. A control unit with several buttons dangled over the center of the tub. Seth pushed one of them. They set off downwards, with a jolt.
Antonio watched the levels go by: fourteen, thirteen, twelve. He cautiously looked down. This caused the tub to tip slightly. “Whoa!” he said, jumping back from the edge. Seth laughed. Antonio shot him a furious look.
Seth pulled on the hood of his hazmat suit and fiddled with the respirator. Level eight, seven, six… “Hey Mary!” Seth shouted, though it was muted by his respirator, and waved to a woman walking on along the level six catwalk.
“Hey Seth!” She waved back.
The bridge at level five was blackened and twisted, but still passable. Level four was broken, and barely holding itself up. There were no bridges below that; only stubs where the ends once were. “Oh, the explosion…” Antonio said.
“Yeah,” Seth said. The floor, an undulating sea of rotting garbage, came up to meet them. The tub came to rest with a slight bump.
“Right. Grab a shovel, and get digging!” Seth said. He hopped out, and scrap of all kinds crunched beneath his feet. Seth sank a few centimeters.
“Ugh…” Antonio said, surveying the scene with a look of outright disgust. “Please tell me there isn’t toilet waste down here.”
“There is some of that too,” Seth said, “though it’s mainly cans, food packaging, and rags.” He grabbed one of the generously-sized shovels, which was clasped to the outside of the tub, while motioning to Antonio to take the other one.
Antonio looked down at the filth beneath his feet, and took the implement. “I suppose I should be thankful I can’t smell it,” he said, driving the blade halfway into the mess. He followed Seth’s lead, and dumped the shovelful into the tub they had just ridden down. A few shovelfuls later, Antonio stopped and looked at Seth. “How are we going to get back up? Please tell me we don’t…”
The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series Page 11