Sean would
have a connection to Aeniah, I suddenly remembered, and so he may
know where she was. ‘Sean, Aeniah's gone, do you have any idea
where she is.’
Sean's voice
came through the static on the comms. ‘Yes George, Aeniah is on the
forty-second floor,’ there was something in Sean's voice that made
me nervous. ‘As far as I am aware she has travelled there
voluntarily, but that does not mean that there is no danger posed
towards you.’
‘What is that
supposed to mean?’ I asked, but there was no reply on the comms. In
fact the entire system seemed to go dead, there was no longer even
any static.
I spun around
searching for something, anything that would bring light upon the
situation, but there was nothing. I ached everywhere; I just did
not have the energy. I hurt everywhere, I felt like, no I had, been
thrown across a room, shot at and then frozen. My groggy self
reflection slowly ended with fear.
Idiot,
I thought, I was
standing around day dreaming in the aftermath of an apocalypse
being chased by hordes of infected. Even for me, that was
stupid.
With a sudden
realisation I remembered that the desk I saw earlier was probably
designed for the receptionists or managers to administrate the
complex. At the very least there should have been a map of some
description.
I hopped over
the top of the desk and crashed to the floor. Another stupid move.
I had to keep reminding myself that I was not an action hero, I was
just some guy, and I should have known better than to vault a desk
wider than my leg span.
Curiously
there was still no noise. This city was dead. There was nothing
left living here but the trees. I wondered where the bodies were,
where all the dead had been left to rot. It seemed as though the
Commercial District had been untouched by the quarantine controls
Blue Dawn had affected. The corpses would not have been preserved
in the vacuum since this section of the station had clearly never
been depressurised. Still there should have at least been
skeletons. Sean had said that there was a ton of movement in the
city centre and I wondered why there was nobody here.
This was not
really relevant right now so I turned my attention back to the
desk. Underneath the top that I had just vaulted over, there was a
bank of screens. I thumbed along the options menus. The system was
too complicated. I was just about to give up when saw out of the
corner of my eye a green woman. It was a holo of the Chorus
Heights' AI. The visual was only in the shape of a woman but
overall there were few distinct features.
‘Good
afternoon citizen, may I help you?’
‘Yes,
please...um, where exactly are the elevators,’ I stuttered.
‘The elevators
are located on the second gallery inside the transport mezzanine.
Is there anything else that I can help you with?’ The green figure
of a woman stated all of this without emotion.
‘Can you tell
me anything about the quarantine?’ I asked, wondering whether or
not the system was even capable of understanding the situation.
‘Of course
citizen. The quarantine has been continuously implemented after
several citizens experienced symptoms similar to that of a viral
infection. The quarantine level was extended nineteen days after
infection to encompass the remainder of the Commercial District.
The Commercial District lost network communication shortly
afterwards. The quarantine will remain in effect indefinitely. Is
there anything else I can help you with?’
‘No, that will
be all,’ I replied. The green lady inclined her head and
disappeared. Still there was silence all around. With effort I
began to move towards the stairs that would take me to the second
gallery.
I had risen
onto the first floor and was circling around the gallery towards
the second level when I heard the sound of somebody frantically
running up the stairs. I could hear their breath catching as they
drew in air. There may have been more than one, but I could not
tell. From my position I was blind.
I ran. My legs
picked up their pace and I felt the hunger fall away, only to be
replaced by that oh so familiar feeling of terror. I wound around
the curved gallery stairs and onto the second floor. As I sprinted
up the final stair I saw the overhead sign that indicated the
transport hub.
The sign
exploded in a shower of sparks. Whatever was chasing me was no
ordinary infected. That thing still retained enough of its demonic
intelligence to operate an energy weapon. I fled in the direction
of the transport hub with super-human speed. A shot flew past me
and exploded against a glass mobile which disintegrated into a rain
of deadly shards and fell towards the mezzanine below.
The transport
hub was just through the arch ahead of me. ‘Summon lift,’ I
screamed to the ever watchful AI. A green figure floated next to me
synchronising its refresh speed with my running rate.
‘Of course
citizen. I notice that you are in some distress. Weapons discharge
has been detected, the police cannot enter a quarantine zone, would
you like me to take executive measures?’
‘Yes!’ I
screamed, ‘for the love of fate,
do
something.’
I was nearing
the lift now, but I could see from the symbols above it that it was
still a considerable distance from me. I could hear the breath of
the infected clearly now. I heard the AI's voice behind me.
‘Attention criminal, you are in violation of Ascension Citizenship
terms. Desist immediately or executive measures will be taken
against you.’ The infected merely snarled and fired another energy
bolt towards me. I threw myself down and the bolt whizzed across my
head and exploded against the door of one of the lift platforms.
The door did not budge and inch.
The infected
was going to get me, of this I was sure. I had nowhere left to run
and the lift had not arrived. I turned around and raised my lancer.
To my horror I saw not one, nor two, but closer to ten of them.
They were moving with a speed that even the uninfected could not
have achieved. I was going to die.
Behind them
rose a curious floating object. It looked a little like Sean, with
a blue eye in front of it. But the device was sleeker, longer and
much more durable looking. From the underside of its body a mass of
beams emerged and struck my pursuers, cooking them so quickly that
they dissolved upon the impact. The creepiest part of the entire
ensemble was that the device made absolutely no noise, and so the
sound of flash-fried flesh was all the more audible.
The device
erased the infected with little effort and casually descend back to
wherever it had come from. The AI appeared again. ‘Congratulations
citizen, your assailants have been dispatched with. You are now
safe. Please proceeded to your destination.’
As if on cue
the lift arrived and the doors opened. I was still rather stunned
by the display of power that the system had put on. Without really
caring I punched my floor number into the machine and waited for
the doors to open again.
*
The lift doors
opened onto a corridor that ended on all visible sides in a view of
the Commercial District. I was so incredibly high and yet I was not
even half way up the building. In this moment of contemplation I
felt the cold muzzle of a gun press itself into the back of my
head.
‘Don't move,’
called a familiar voice. ‘Into the next room.’
I nearly fell
to my knees with the shock of it. I felt sicker than I had ever
felt in my entire life. My stomach dropped and churned. The person
holding the gun to my head was Aeniah, Aeniah Corinthia.
She pushed me
physically into an apartment room.
‘Why are you
doing this?’ I called out.
‘I know what
you saw George. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I was only
surprised that you had not noticed right from the beginning, I have
used my United World access ID often enough.’
‘So what, what
is the problem, I figured that you were older than you looked, Sean
seemed to be trying to tell me just how old, but how is that a
problem?’
‘It is a
problem because certain agents cannot know.’
‘Who, who
can't know?’
‘Blue
Dawn.’
‘But why?’
this was beginning to be far more complicated than I had imagined.
It seemed as though even holding a gun to my head still would not
make me pay enough attention.
‘The answer to
that is complicated and far too long to answer, I must be certain
of your silence before I disclose any of it.’
In truth I was
not really frightened of Aeniah, I was aware of my own value and
knew that she would not kill me. If I was honest I did not really
trust either of them. Blue Dawn seemed as though she might cut my
throat the moment I became dispensable and I felt no need to arm
her with any information that she did not need to know. It was for
these reason that I said, ‘I promise you my silence.’
Aeniah did not
respond at first, she appeared to be weighing her possible options.
I felt the pressure of the gun against my head lift slightly and
then fall away completely. I waited a moment before I turned and
saw Aeniah wandering further into the apartment. I hurried to
follow her inside.
I found Aeniah
staring out of a huge window and looking out onto the expanse of
the city. She seemed smaller than before, hunched there with her
hand firmly clutching the window ledge. Her face was half covered
in a deathly shadow and half bathed in heavenly light. She sighed,
a long tormented sigh.
‘Where to
start. Where to start.’ She sighed again. ‘Do you know how long ago
it was that the United World ceased to exist.’
‘Not exactly.
Actually I don't think I was ever told.’
‘No I don't
suppose you were. Your generation lived like children, you were
consumed with the most superficial things in life, it is no
surprise that the word ended the way it did, that it never
recovered.
‘The United
World officially ceased to exist two hundred and fourteen years
ago. After that the consortium of nations that made it up fought
for the last remaining portions of the world that remained
habitable. It was this final fighting that began the end of the
world.’ She sighed again and seemed for a second as though she
could go on for no longer. But despite my concerns she continued
anyway. ‘I was born two hundred and forty four years ago on a
continent that you will never be able to visit. When I was twenty I
entered the military just as the two powers of the world were
gearing up for their control over the colonies that we had
established together in the spirit of good will. After a series of
gene treatments I was able to become a general.
‘We became
aware of Ascension's construction by means of a medium range
reconnaissance probe. We were amazed by the strides that they had
taken in technological development.
‘Upon
Ascension's completion Carvelle invited several members of the
United World government to have the chance to benefit from the
station's advances. I was included in the party. We were very
impressed.
‘I was tasked
with the defence of Ascension and was given a United World
Destroyer in order to achieve this end, should a war ever emerge.
In compensation Carvelle agreed to export all his technological
advances, aside from project Ascension.’
‘In a matter
of years the United World had infinite longevity, a genetic
fortification that permanently stalled the ageing process. Ironic,
I suppose, considering that within just a few years we would be
proved
very
mortal indeed.’
Aeniah paused
as if to reflect upon her past. Then she continued. ‘My nature as a
security enforcer gave me access to Ascension's systems. It is this
authority you have witnessed,’ strangely she smiled. ‘I bet you
think that being tasked with the protection of a station was
somewhat a downgrade in my professional circumstances, but don't
you get it, Ascension seemed the guiding light of the future, and I
was going to be a part of it. Come what may.
‘I got the
news that we had dropped the bombs halfway through supper. I think
I will always remember the meal, re-sequenced pork, cold, with a
battery of cress. I asked for my orders and was told to bring in my
Destroyer to help defend ourselves from the enemy. But I never
left. The tactical download told us that the Untied World had
dropped the bombs, that the fleet was destroyed, there would have
been nothing left to defend. As far as I was concerned Ascension
was the key to the future. With the advances they were making we
could have returned to Earth and restored it to a pre-war state.
But of course these advances never occurred. We watched from a
distance as Ascension destroyed itself.
‘It started
slowly at first, but then it all fell apart. The angels went rogue,
the population maddened as they were forced to drink more and more
upon Carvelle's artificial nectar.’
Aeniah,
perhaps realising that this was not the time for long stories,
seemed to poise herself as though wrapping up the tale. ‘So why am
I so concerned about Dawn?’ At the sound of that name her voice
seemed to harden and her body language became far more square, as
though responding to a request for a fight. ‘It all started when
Carvelle decided to abandon Ascension, ranting and raving about a
future amongst the stars. I can’t believe I fell for his bullshit.
He really believed that he had found all the answers. We really
believed him.
‘For some
reason he decided that the Xenith class cruisers were insufficient,
he wanted my destroyer. There was little that I could do, that
fucking population and its casting meant that we did not stand a
chance. A few of us managed to escape back onto Ascension when the
Destroyer was invaded.