An Obsidian Sky (21 page)
Such was the
beauty of Ascension. In its time it would have been one of the most
incredible things ever to have been produced. But here, today, it
was clear that it had not escaped the scars of the nemesis that had
befallen its greater whole.
Where once I
was sure there would have been huge columns of grassland, divided
by trees from the surrounding sky-scrapers, there was now just
ashen surfaces. The trees and plant life that surrounded the
scrapers had lost much of its green lustre. The rivers just visible
from my sight were still an incredible blue, but they were no
longer clear, and the light no longer shimmered across its surface.
Whilst the suns still shone brightly and gave life to an awesome
vision, the distance was now dim, where once, I am sure, it would
have been clear.
We were
standing on the edge of the interlink station. My hands were
resting upon a thigh high glass wall. The station was raised upon a
platform which cut out into an expanse of air and showed off the
incredible vista. I wondered with all the power of my imagination
just what it would have been like to be there, to live as they had
lived.
Then I felt
the familiar sensation. How convenient these visions were. It was
almost funny that I had complained about their timing before. The
world washed out to a grey. My vision reformed elsewhere. I was no
longer standing with my friends on that raised platform but in
amongst the crowds of the city.
The colour
returned. The brightness of the place was incredible. But the noise
was even greater. There were so many people making so much noise.
What impressed me most is that there was no anger and no hostility
in the voices of those around me. They were all laughing, smiling
and hugging one another.
I was being
dragged along by the rest of the crowd. They pushed me gently along
the great grassy walkway and towards the immense skyline in front
of me. I was soon pushed up an embankment that led onto a glass
square raised above the ground. The glass square had a series of
roads leading off it, each of which climbed into the art forms
above our heads. The square, true to Ascension's design, was epic
in proportion. In the centre was a circular pool of water with a
fountain shaped like one of the angels in the middle. The water was
not like any water that I had seen before. It appeared to have a
living light swirling within it. It shot up in an explosion of
colour and dived down on a wave, unbroken by the force of the
air.
I looked
around again and saw a face that I recognised. He was one of the
liberators from the station. He had dissented from the crowd and
freed a helpless angel. But this vision made no sense. The Equinox
subjects were clearly venerated. Not only was the fountain a
testament to the peoples appreciation of the angels and their work,
but the floating holos showed instructions of how to treat the
Equinox subjects as special citizens, to love them, to keep them
safe.
On my right
stood two angels, it seemed that they would only go around in
pairs. These angels appeared contented. Whilst the others had been
on edge, these appeared comfortable, even happy. They held each
other’s hands and smiled at the people passing them by. They did
not stand apart and await the inevitable. Most shockingly of all I
noted that they were talking to the people. A mother, or guardian,
had taken their child up to them and they were laughing and talking
with one another. The sun shone between them as the mother raised a
camera to take a photo of them all in play.
The child
seemed to draw in his breathe and before him blossomed a fantastic
visual display. Light, like water, was dancing and spinning before
him. I understood that he must be drawing from the angels and
casting. It was incredible. The beacons of civilisation in the
background of the photo's range described a future I wanted to be a
part of. The casting of the magic water somehow seemed more useful
than anything else Ascension had managed to produce. It was purer,
it was better than the vestigial promise of Infinite Longevity. It
was more fantastic than Immersive Virtual. It had a clear point and
it warmed my heart.
I turned my
attention back to the saboteur. He was not dressed so formally as
before. In fact none of them were. I looked through the transparent
floor beneath me and saw not a mist of grey clad officials, but an
ocean of colour. The sight was like a painter’s palette. I lifted
my eye back and found that the dissident was chatting and laughing
with the tall lady besides him. She seemed happier somehow. In fact
it dawned on me that everyone appeared ecstatic, with an enthusiasm
that I had never ever seen in a populace before.
It suddenly
occurred to me right then and there. My visions were only ever of
critical events. They were confined spatially to the places I was
travelling through. But if an event occurred of great importance
there, then I would be shown exactly what happened. I sensed a
coming moment. I knew that somehow, something was about to shatter
my bliss.
The two angels
were still holding hands. I saw one smile to the other. He appeared
the more jovial of the two. The other responded with words I could
not hear. His mouth moved with careful consideration. They were
still holding hands as the beginning of the end walked near. I
realised what he was about to do, perhaps even before he had. He
was black clad, an outcast among the colour of the citizens. He was
hunched a little and had a strange far-off look in his eyes. The
angels did not even see him coming. I realised that this would be
the last day of Ascension, the last day of paradise, before the
station would reach the last scene in its final act.
A conversation
between one of the angels and the man ensued. The sound was
draining from the vision and I could hear nothing. The conversation
seemed aggressive and my saboteur walked towards the three figures
as if to intervene. The angel on the left ruffled his wings, but
the other kept his wings still. The man in the black garment placed
a small metal brick to the angel’s head, and he fell to the floor
dead. The other angel fell still. He no longer ruffled his wings.
In slow motion and with the colour fading from my vision I saw the
crowds of people running from the gunshot. A woman's legs floating
without noise. A man's hand slashing back and forth through the
air, silently. I saw the tall lady and her accomplice run towards
the man in black. The man in black's arm arced gracefully up
towards the remaining angel’s head. Why wouldn't he run, why
wouldn't he defend himself?
Help him!
I screamed in my head.
The two saviours were lunging towards the man in black. Water burst
slowly like rain from their footsteps, rainbows interspersed
between every drop.
The man in
black's arm reached the angel’s head, a blue flash and down he
fell. They both lay on the ground, hand in hand, serenity was all
amongst their faces. The tall lady opened her mouth screaming as
she collapsed down towards the ground, her eyes flung out tears as
she shook her head. I could hear none of her agony.
But before the
vision faded I heard these words. ‘This is the way the world ends.
May we be so lucky as to die on our feet.’ It was here that my
vision of the world caved. I woke overlooking the damaged Eden with
my companions by my side.
We had begun
to descend the heights from which we had once been standing. The
Commercial District was surrounded by water and interspersed with
rivers and canals. This meant that the most effective way to get
the heart of the commercial district was to find a boat and take it
right into the centre. From the centre we could get a vehicle which
we could use on the large roads that spanned the grounds and the
airs of the Commercial District. And from the very heights of the
city’s skyline we could access the freeway which would take us into
the Centre for Administration.
We were moving
slowly down the bright steps. The suns shone with a bright
intensity and the water beneath us sparkled. We were nearly at the
bottom of the huge staircase and it had taken all of our remaining
strength to get to this point. We all longed for the security and
safety of the boat. Even if it was just an illusion.
‘Are we nearly
at the bottom yet?’ groaned Abigail to Harris. None of us bothered
with an answer. We were too tired to waste our breath. She was of
course equally as able to see the floor as we were. It was also
very annoying that her whining voice could be giving away our
position to whomever may be here.
The floor was
now in sight. Aeniah, ahead as always, was already at the bottom of
the stairs. I arrived a few seconds afterwards. Sean had whizzed
off in the direction of the city in order to do some
reconnaissance. But he had been gone for a while. I wondered what
kind of trouble he might have managed to get himself into. A moment
later and I was second guessing this fear. Knowing Sean he was
probably marvelling at some unknown lost piece of architecture.
By now we had
stepped onto a white and red bricked terrace which ran alongside
the water. The terrace functioned as a way for people to moor up
their small watercraft. In the distance a huge bridge could be seen
that crossed the expanse of water. But the interlink tramway was
not a main route, it was designed to be a quaint tourist way of
getting about, and so it did not end at the bridge but by the
water.
The bridge was
far too far away for us to traverse. We also did not have a vehicle
so it was not as though there was any real benefit to walking all
the way over there. As I was musing Sean had returned from his
quick scout out of the area.
'According to
a quick run of the place there are no infected on this terrace.
However intermittent range sensors reveal a huge amount of motion
within the Commercial District itself. This motion was detected
with thermal imaging and so I am reasonably confident that there is
a large quantity of infected over there.' Sean finished his first
report. There was clearly more to report but he waited patiently
for the questions that Aeniah would inevitably ask him.
Sure enough he
had not waited for the wrong reasons. Aeniah piped up, 'so how many
have you detected, and where are they concentrated?’
'My sensors
are not accurate enough from this distance to determine an answer
to either of those questions. And before you accuse me of being an
obsolete dishwasher, might I remind you that it was your infinite
wisdom that requested this particular drone for me to inhabit. If
you had at least kept the body that I was manufactured with then
this would be a very different situation.' He finished with an air
of indignation.
Aeniah ignored
the attack. 'So then how about a boat, did you find us one of
them.’
'I did one
better,’ Sean replied with an air of confidence. 'I found a
hopper.’
'A hopper?' I
asked.
'A hopper is
like the hovercraft that you always wanted as a kid. However
hoppers are designed only for crossing water. They do not fly. In
fact they are not very fast by comparison to most vehicles of the
period, but they are totally silent.' Aeniah finished, her voice
oozing superiority. 'So then Sean, where is our luxurious
transport.’
'Not far, just
keep going straight on, you can't miss it.'
He was right.
After just a couple of minutes walking we found the hopper. The
hopper was shaped like an oval. In the centre was a seat with a
wheel and around it's edges were red fabric seats. The hopper was a
silvery colour, coated in a grey dust.
Aeniah jumped
from the terrace onto the hopper. It bobbed and swayed with the
impact and Aeniah almost staggered overboard. I stifled a laugh,
but she heard it anyway and turned round, staring at me evilly.
She sat on the
seat with the wheel and rammed something into the side of it. The
hopper rose, without any noise at all, about six inches from the
water.
'Hurry up will
you and get on board. I know you guys are tired, but we don’t have
all day. No dithering now. Oh, and Sean, scout ahead of the hopper
when we are moving and tell us which parts of the city we really
don't want to get close to.'
'Of course
sir,' he replied deferentially.
We each leapt
onto the hopper. Now that it was active the vehicle did not bob and
sway with the water but remained perfectly upright. If anything at
all occurred it was just the faintest hint of a slight hum as the
engine worked to correct the hopper's balance.
Aeniah forced
an unyielding handle forward and the hopper lurched suddenly
forward and then relaxed to a static speed. Aeniah was quite
correct in her assertion that hoppers were not fast, the thing
seemed designed with comfort in mind and not exhilaration. A
promotional sign on the side of the vessel had said 'stable in all
weather.’ This seemed indeed to be the case. Though there was no
wind there was a little bit of swell along the water. At the speed
that we were going it did not seem as though the waves were having
any effect as we continued heading straight and true.
We were now in
the middle of the expanse of water. Sean had advised us to make
several course corrections to avoid the infected. We had considered
taking the small city spanning waterways to get to the city's
centre but this had proved too dangerous. Instead the plan was now
to take the main river into the city and then divert ourselves to
the location that we wished.
The Ascension
Social Transport Initiative, according to Sean, was located along
the Commercial District's Grand Concourse. This was something, Sean
assured me, that I would have to see to believe.
