CHAPTER 23
Unexpected Return
Laura and I returned to the forward operating base and to my surprise my mother was there waiting for me. She signaled me over to her, but I had more pressing matters to attend to so she would have to wait. I sat down with Captain Chip and told him we destroyed Lennox Corp and the remaining security force wants to make a deal. I didn’t know where the citizens of the city were being held, but I would soon find out. Captain Chip would be the perfect person to sit down with the security patrols and negotiate the terms of their surrender. He worked closely with Lennox Corp for many years and should be familiar with many of the men. I told him I wanted nothing to do with the process, my path would lead me elsewhere. He agreed and took a security detail with him to the interior of the city to meet with the highest ranking member of the security team. Meanwhile, I headed back to the slums of S.C. 1 to find my mother and have a talk. We found a nice bench in a quiet area of the square and took a seat. She started the conversation with a question as she often did, “Did you eliminate Lennox Corp?” Somehow she already seemed apprised that Arthur Lennox took his leave some time back. I answered her. “Yes, but I may have created an even bigger threat.” I filled her in on my conversation with Arthur Lennox and his claim to be selling Nano-tech for a seat on the board of one of the other corporations. “You still don’t understand, do you?” she asked. I grew tired of her games and wanted answers. “It seems I’m missing something, why don’t you fill me in.” She explained, “I surmise that Arthur Lennox is cleaning house. The information I gained from my contact in S.C. 3 led me to conclude Arthur Lennox is the puppet master of the entire operation. By that I’m talking he manipulated all the pieces on the board, purposely orchestrating the downfall of Lennox Corp. He never liked the piece of the world his father settled for and his ambitions leaned towards acquiring more power and status.” Her belief was they finally perfected Nano-tech and planned to use it not to take over the other corporations, but to have power over and to control them. Her source convinced her Lennox’ goal was to sell the other corporations tainted versions of Nano-tech that he alone could secretly control and manipulate.
It made sense now. Arthur Lennox laid out all the bread crumbs that put me on the trail to taking down Lennox Corp. He needed everyone with knowledge about Nano-tech and how to develop it removed from the equation, but could never do it himself. He needed someone from the outside creating an uprising of the people, ultimately keeping his hands clean. His story of losing his empire would also serve as a tool of fear that would drive the other corporations straight to him for Nano-tech to control their empires. Lennox Corp reached its maximum potential, and no longer had the technology or manpower to continue progressing Nano-tech. He’s been planning a rather unique takeover of the other corporations. He wasn’t building an army, he was destroying the evidence. This was incredible. Then I asked my mother, “What makes any of this true?” She said, “Nothing, but the pieces are all there and when I arrived in S.C.3, my friend told me they were preparing for and evacuation through the emergency tunnel. When I asked her where they were to go, she said that all citizens were being moved to S.C.2 and all security forces were being reassigned to guard the corporate building in S.C. 1. That is when I knew that S.C. 1 was a diversion to cover his escape. If protecting his legacy took precedence, he would have diverted all the security forces to the barge. I knew S.C. 2 would be unguarded, so that is where I headed when I left. I hoped to gain the support of the citizens for our cause. But when I arrived, they had destroyed the entire city with the citizens inside. I arrived too late, everyone had perished. When I saw S.C. 2 in ashes still smoldering, I became sure they had played us. I tried to get back to S.C. 1 to warn you of the diversion and probable trap, but when I arrived, Captain Chip told me you had already gone into the interior of the city with intentions of entering the corporate building. I did not discern he had dissolved the board. No wonder no one ever saw them anymore”. It appeared my mother was correct. Finally, all the pieces came together. Arthur Lennox was a high stakes player and had reached his ceiling with Lennox Corp. I played right into his hands and though our corner of the world was safe for now, the fate of the entire world outside of here appeared to be in grave jeopardy. There are no actions in this world free from consequences, and it is the unforseen that always pose the biggest threat.
I asked my mother if she would help Captain Chip get a good hold on things now that the cities would merge with the slums. There would be many people who would try to take advantage of a situation like this and seize power. It would be their job to make sure that didn’t happen. I also needed another favor from her. I needed her to prepare a file for me containing everything she could pull together about the world beyond ours and any information she possessed about the other corporations operating in the world. She agreed, but I saw in her eyes she still had something more to tell me. She looked me dead in the eyes and said, “I have to warn you before you walk this path, that the last I heard from Kalil he was working freelance for Bliskin Corp trying to earn their trust. “Kalil was convinced they were developing the next level of community control and somehow Lennox Corp was involved.” The revelations just kept coming. There was an actual possibility that Kalil was still alive and that I might see him again someday. This was the first piece of positive news I had heard since my mother’s return. She told me she would put together all the information that Kalil had passed along to her and make it available to me.
Even though I had not fully completed my mission, this experience taught me my place and purpose in this world. I would expose the corruption and end the tyranny for all people of this world and any world beyond it. I would not lie down in the face of danger or turn a blind eye. I would make it my mission to succeed where others failed and create a new world free of the chains that bind our hands and our choices. My mother chronicled all the information she could recall about the other corporations and the world beyond the Wasteland. It wasn’t much. She had never left our piece of the world and her interactions with other corporations was even more limited as Lennox Corp had been isolating themselves for decades while testing on their citizens and developing Nano-tech.
I found Laura and told her I was heading out to my mother’s for a few days and I would meet her back at S.C. 3 when I returned. I enjoyed a few days with my mother out at her cabin in the Wasteland, as she talked about what would need to be done to bring the communities together, and gathered the materials I had requested. As I watched her move about, it continued to be hard to believe she was my mother, and I still wasn’t sure how I felt about being conceived to become a Savior. But I learned a lot about myself with my mother‘s help and in my heart I would miss her. We enjoyed a tea on the porch one more time before it was time to go. As I went to thank her, she put her arms around me and said, “I’m so proud of the man you have become and of what you did for the people. I have no doubts this is your true path, son. I do love you.” I was left speechless. I leaned down, kissing her on her forehead, turned and headed for the slums.
Once back in the slums of S.C. 3, I sought out Laura and Smith. She and Smith had been gathering supplies and things we may need. They both greeted me like they hadn’t seen me for weeks. After a few minutes, Laura asked, “What did you talk about with your mother? You look rattled.” I replied, “That is for another time. We will have plenty of time to discuss everything on our journey.” She and I headed back to my bunker and prepare for the road trip ahead. We both knew that we had an unfamiliar world of adventures waiting on us, and the times ahead of were sure to carry an unfamiliar weight from the dreams we once knew. Somehow, we both realized this was the life we were to live from now on. This was the path our destiny had put us on and we intended to walk it to its fullest extent. From the first moment we met at the blacksmith shop, our lives became inexplicably entwined and we would now take the adventures ahead together; Me, Laura and Smith.
CHAPTER 24
Goodbye to t
he Wasteland
Laura and I spent the next few weeks in my bunker going over the information my mother provided me. Clarity Corp another extension of Bliskin Corp and apparently reserved for all the most important and highest level contributors to their multi-level society. Clarity Corp had the responsibility of maintaining the technology for the Bliskin Corporations bigger manufacturing operations. As long as they provided service and Labor to Bliskin Corp they could operate freely and primarily govern on their own terms. According to my mother's files, everyone living under the control of the Clarity Corp lives a life of excess and abundance. Clarity Corp used material possession and inclusion to manipulate their society. They pretended to be independent, but in reality nothing they did could be free from the rule of Bliskin Corp when it all came down to it. She could supply me almost no information on Bliskin Corp, only that they were the largest corporation to survive the fall, and they made their name in the world producing weapons of mass destruction for the highest bidding government. After combing over the notes for weeks and also taking a little time to relax after the recent events, we both became stir crazy. We had a mission and it would not fulfill itself. Plus, I think the more time that Laura and I spent together the more we sensed ourselves falling in love, and I don’t think either of us were ready to deal with that level of emotions. We needed an adventure to channel that energy.
According to the maps I made of the Wasteland over the years, and my mother’s knowledge of the world beyond the Wasteland, our journey would bring us into Clarity Corp territory first. There only workable way to make it out of the Wasteland involved a trip through the drought-stricken No-man's-land, considered by all to be impossible to cross. Laura and I would need to pack our vehicle wisely and be sure we packed everything we might need to survive the trip. Even if I couldn’t die of dehydration, Laura sure could. We could not afford to get lost. There was the possibility of magnetic interference that would render compasses useless, so we would need to travel by night with the stars as our guide. That would work out best anyway, considering the heat during the day. The excitement between us was unmistakable as we spent the next few days gathering and loading supplies. Even Smith got in on the excitement, bringing along his favorite chew toys.
We made a plan to head out the next morning, when we were both convinced we packed everything we would need. That would put us making it to No-man's-land by nightfall, giving us an entire first night of travel before we would set up camp in No-man's-land. I eventually planned to tell her everything about me, but for now we both had been through so much that I felt better dispensing it to her in small doses. It likely would be a lot for a normal person to wrap their head around. We spent the entire day travelling and as we did; I found myself reminiscing. I wasn’t reminiscing on the events of recent, instead my mind carried me back to the adventures I experienced in the Wasteland, before I found my true purpose in life. Even though I now had a purpose and a mission, a part of me missed my simple care free life of scavenging and exploring the Wasteland. The world seemed a much simpler place when I thought I was just some mutant freak destined to wander the Wasteland, accepting the Wasteland as my entire world. I had never even dreamed of anything beyond the Wasteland. I was so mad at Kalil when he went off to explore the world beyond the Wasteland. I didn’t believe there was anything out there, and I thought he was abandoning me. I now realized that my entire world had been a lie and that wherever Kalil had gone, he went there to save the world, the entire world. I was taken in by the lies told by Lennox Corp just as so many others were and I now grasped the truth: there was a vast world beyond the Wasteland. What I didn’t know was what exactly that world may hold for Laura and I once we found it.
The ride to the edge of no-man's-land was a quiet one. Laura saw that I had a lot on my mind and left me to my introspection. I imagine she was probably doing some reflection of her own. We reached the edge of no-man's-land just before nightfall just as we planned. But instead of proceeding, we set up camp and called it a day. I expect both of us needed a little more time to sever the cord between the life we knew and the world that lay beyond. We sat up all night, looking at the stars and sharing stories about the blacksmith and others we had called friends. Both of us recognized we may never return to the Wasteland and wanted to cherish the memories created there. The more we talked, the more our emotions and feelings came rushing back. Laura and I could no longer hide our true feelings for one another. All the weeks pinned up in the bunker together we denied our feelings, but on this night under the stars all of that changed. We had committed ourselves on every level. We were no longer just on a mission together we were moving forward with our lives together. This was a huge turning point for both of us. We had both lived a solitary life filled with day-to-day tasks but little meaning. Now we would have the opportunity to experience the joys, the tears, the excitement of a life; sharing it with someone, giving it meaning together. She finally fell asleep, nestled up close to me as the sun peaked over the horizon. As I felt its warm glow on my face, true peace came over me for the first time in my entire life. I let my eyes fade closed, as I pulled Laura in even closer to me. We slept throughout the entire day until around dusk. We ate a solid meal before packing up our camp and while waiting for the sun to fall out of sight. As the sun gave way, and the stars revealed themselves, I turned taking one last look at the Wasteland behind us. The time had come to say goodbye. Although the odds said it was unlikely we would ever return to the Wasteland, I had spent my entire life defying the odds and something told me I would one day return. And even though this was goodbye for now it would not be goodbye forever.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to thank my support system. Due to the private nature of my life and out of respect for the privacy of those who have contributed to thisproject I would just like to say nothing in this world is done without a solid team around you and I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to the conception of this book. Next I would like to thank all of you, the readers. This is my first book of many and I look forward to not only growing the story and characters involved, but also expanding my own personal writing skills and with your support I know anything is possible. Last of all I would like to acknowledge the universal energy that drives and connects all of us. Without my belief in something bigger driving us all, I would not be able to tap into my full potential and become the creator of such complex and genuine characters and worlds. Thank you all for your support and I look forward to sharing future successes with you as we take this journey together.
About The Author
Mark Browning
Mark Browning is a creator of worlds, writing everything from poetry to creative works of fiction. Wielding the pen like a mighty sword using intellect over force, he is always looking to push the limits of thought and the way we see the world we live in. With a background in creative writing and contributions to several music projects, his range and scale resonate over multiple demographics. As an only child from a small town, a bold imagination and amazing eye for detail emerged at an early age. Ultimately, story-telling and writing became a driving force for everything in his life. The need to create resonates from deep within in an effort to leave the readers with not only questions they may not have thought to ask, but also the confidence and perspective to see the answers that may not have been clear to them previously. He sums his writing up by saying “Creation is always more difficult than destruction if we allow it to be, but creation is so much more powerful when it is the driving force behind change”.
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Lennox Corporation: Book 1 in the Savior Series Page 13