An Obsidian Sky (22 page)

Sean seemed to
have everything under control. Aeniah was guiding the boat along
the green and blue water with expert precision. It was as though
this was something that she had done a hundred times before. She
even hummed along with Sean on occasions. Abigail and Harris both
seemed to be enjoying themselves. In fact it seemed that everyone
was enjoying themselves thoroughly. Perhaps it was the chance to
rest, perhaps it was being so far away from the enemy. But in all
reality it was where we were that was the cause for our levity. The
suns were shining. We were looking onto the beautiful expanse of a
city sent down from the heavens. Even though it had not been looked
after for centuries and we knew that lurking within those mammoth
temples was an unprecedented danger, we seemed to find the place
alluring in a way that I could not describe. Ascension seemed to
have that quality. It was a place of such magnificence that even
though there was danger everywhere, and even though much of it was
damaged, it could still pull you in. It could still captivate you.
This station, this act of hubris, was the most incredible place
imaginable, and if you weren't careful it would suck you in and
throw you out just like it did to all the others.

The hopper was
banking right now, a small amount of spray showered our faces and
the sides dug into the water. Aeniah, in her usual cavalier manner,
had turned much too sharply. But she pretended as though she had
not noticed. There was something quite noticeable about the
Commercial District and that was that it was much hotter than the
rest of Ascension, comfortable, but definitely a
lot
hotter.

The great
sweeping towers of Ascension were coming into view now. The mist
still hung above the heights of the scrapers but the blur of haze
running along the surface of the district was gradually
reducing.

Aeniah began
to reduce the power to the thrusters. We had slowed to the pace of
a crawl as we sidled down the main river. Immense structures rose
to our sides. The buildings each jutted out onto the water, or else
had light brick walkways running between themselves and the water.
I imagined what these superb walkways would have looked like back
when Ascension was a reality. In imagining I thought I saw the
shadows of the former shoppers, and workers, running along the
streets.

Every hundred
meters or so the river branched into a fork. Though we continued
straight along to our destination it became clear that the streets
and roads visible to our sides were not in great condition. Refuse
lay scattered everywhere. Most of it was so old that it no longer
contained any discernible colour. There was a thick layer of dust
coating the surfaces of the stone and marble pavements. Shadows ran
along the side alleys. We began to feel uncomfortable again. In a
last ditch effort to conceal ourselves further Aeniah had cut out
the engine and was using only moments of thrust at a time to get us
to our destination.

Any
conversation that we had was done in hushed whispers. We had
limited our conversations to the trivial, refusing to acknowledge
the dangerous situation that we had placed ourselves in. Perhaps
taking the bridge would have been a better option. Perhaps we
should have sent in a larger party or a smaller one, or split
ourselves into groups to increase our efficiency. But none of this
was spoken about, it remained fully conversed in the silence.

Our
conversations had rapidly centred upon the need for food. Whilst
the water around us was in plentiful supply and our suits drained
additional moisture from the air, Aeniah and I had had no food for
several days and it was beginning to show.

‘Look Aeniah,
we need food, whether or not it is unsafe. If we don't get some
soon we may not be able to even finish our journey before we pass
out.’ I finished in an air of desperation.

‘Fine,’ Aeniah
hissed, ‘Sean where can we get food from?’

‘On Ascension,
and within much of the United World, food was not bought and
exchanged, instead particle synthesis devices would produce
consumable food-stuffs. Any apartment building or place of
residence would have such a device. I would not advise trying to
find food in the restaurants; as these establishments typically
served food in the traditional sense and so their stores were
perishable.’ Sean seemed to tire of his history lesson, perhaps
perceiving that due to hunger we were not really in a position to
care. Or more likely it was because he had heard my sighing with
impatience. Whatever was the case, Sean floated higher in the air,
distancing himself from us.

‘So which ones
are the apartment buildings?’ I asked.

Aeniah held
her hand over her wrist. I realised, and was not sure why I had not
earlier, that Aeniah was not wearing an Eternis Systems suit. Or at
least the device that she was holding in her hand was not part of
the standard issue. After a moment or so a three dimensional holo
resolved above her hand. The image it produced was of the city but
from a top down perspective. She manipulated the image with her
hands and the view descended into the city. The buildings rose up
as the camera panned down at a reducing angle. Two blue pins
dropped down from nothingness and onto the maps. The holo spun and
retracted showing a green line between the buildings that we were
closest to us and the building that we needed to be in. Our
destination had a square of floating text above it which stated,
Chorus Heights
. On the next line the text read,
search
field: residential buildings
. I estimated from what I could see
of the map that we were very close. Aeniah guided the hopper left
and along one of the smaller tributaries of the main river. We were
still nowhere near the centre of the Commercial District. This, I
assumed, was a good thing. There should be less infected in the
outskirts of the city.

The building
was soon visible. It was a huge, slightly curved, white stone
skyscraper that ascended into a sharp apex. The nearest face of the
building was concave and within this cavity stood a huge sculpture
of a young lady, dress flowing, with her hands lifting themselves
towards the sky. The young lady stretched upwards and almost
touched the apex of the tower. The building reached into the sky
and its tip seemed to be lodged among the clouds.

This face of
the building lay directly in the path of the water, which curved
around it on either side, in effect causing the building to become
a peninsular. The young lady stood triumphantly above us now and I
wondered whether she had ever managed to touch that which she
reached. I loved the optimism, but hated the reality.

The Chorus
Heights apartment building had a jetty situated directly ahead of
us. We were approaching the confusing entrance at a very slow
speed. I saw the huge shadowy silhouettes of the large liners that
were berthed there. Pleasure cruisers became visible shortly
afterwards, their very shapes designed to capture and entertain
their covetous viewers, like sculptures of glass formed by the wind
and resting amongst the deadly blues of the sea.

The prow of
the hopper crossed timidly into the entrance of the oversized
jetty. I wondered if it was made out of real wood. Regardless, we
all felt a little out of place sitting in the obviously inexpensive
hopper as we slid through a harbour of opulence. The very air
seemed to ooze a moisture of red wealth. The hopper continued to
make almost no noise as Aeniah selected a free berth that was
suitably close to Chorus Heights and the jetty’s exit at the same
time.

We moored up
in almost no time. ‘Abigail, Harris, you two are to stay here with
the hopper and keep it secure, I want you to make very sure that we
still have the same way out that we came in. George, you're with
me, I need your eyes and your fire power. Sean, I want you to try
and interface with Chorus Heights' surveillance system. There
should be an interface around the back of the building. I want you
to retrieve all the information that you can about the rest of the
Commercial District. That is if you can get in. Everybody be sure
to use comms only in the case of emergencies, such as an engagement
with the enemy.’ Aeniah, in her usual manner, turned to me and
issued the order, ‘with me!’

*

The jetty had
been no trouble to get across. There were literally no signs of
life. A quick sweep of my lancer's thermal imaging revealed that
there was not even a worthy heat signature visible within the
buildings. I was however uncertain of the effective range of this
antique.

The entrance
to the building was in effect a series of columns supporting a
stone overhang. True to Ascension's blend of the ultra modern with
the classical, it was not merely a matter of walking through the
columns and you were in , because there was a meter thick armoured
glass partition separating the end of the columns from the
beginning of the building

A message was
engraved into the glass entrance which read,
For Those Who Seek
Enlightenment, Ascension Can be the Only Cure
. In between each
of the columns there were lecterns of crystal with pages from
famous literature impressed onto their surfaces.

In order to
pass through the glass it was evidently necessary to go through the
comparatively small entrance. Unfortunately this would require us
to figure out a way of opening the door.

Our tiny forms
reached the door undisturbed. It was taller than us by several
feet. There was a small flat slab of sandstone raised aloft by a
pole of the same material that drew my interest. I walked over to
it in the belief that this would be our way in. I carefully placed
my hand upon its cold surface. In a flash a screen transposed
itself upon the surface of the slab, it seemed to be projected from
nowhere. There was an image of the building ahead of us now flowing
along the stone. Superimposed upon the image, in white lettering,
were the words,
Access to Chorus Heights is restricted at this
time
. The text was marked as interactive so I pressed it.

‘I am sorry
citizen,’ an automated voice boomed, ‘but Chorus Heights is
currently off limits to the general public.’ We both spun around in
unison knowing with an inevitable certainty that this would draw
the attention of any nearby infected. ‘This restriction has been
autonomously enforced by the Chorus Heights AI. This enforcement is
the result of a biological quarantine procedure in effect
throughout Ascension. All citizens are advised to remain indoors,
seek shelter and await further instructions.’

My heart was
once again set racing and I could hear it drumming in my ears. My
vision narrowed and I desperately searched out the enemy. But none
could be seen. In fact throughout the course of our entire movement
across the Commercial District there had been nothing to see but
shadows. It seemed almost as though we were projecting our own
phantoms upon a desolate landscape.

After several
minutes it became clear that we were not going to be confronted by
any of Ascension's monstrous creations. I turned and said to
Aeniah, ‘is there any way of bypassing the lock-down?’

After a moment
of silence Aeniah replied, ‘I think I might have a way.’ She strode
over to the slab and rolled back her sleeve. With her exposed wrist
she rubbed her naked flesh onto a small increment in one the upper
corners of the slab. The image on the screen changed to something
that more closely resembled a user interface. It seemed as though
Ascension's systems were in some way programmed to respond to
Aeniah's commands. After several moments of collapsing windows and
fluttering hands some text appeared upon the screen and stated
simply
Access Granted, Welcome Aeniah Corinthia.

It was those
words which caused me to fully realise my suspicions. Ascension
knew who Aeniah was. The systems onboard the Eternis System's
vessel had called her by a different surname. I knew immediately
that Aeniah was not who she seemed to be. Although when I came to
think about it, she had never seemed entirely normal, in fact she
always seemed to be out of place.

I was about to
confront her about my suspicions, force her to tell me what was
going on. But I realised where we were and thought better of it. I
would ask her later, I would ask her before we left Chorus Heights.
With these thoughts whirling through my head I had hardly noticed
that I was alone amongst the columns, Aeniah had already walked
inside. I rushed forwards, mindful that by myself I was a sitting
target. The glass doors slowly closed behind me. I heard the thud
of their two sides gently impacting upon one another.

I could not
see Aeniah anywhere. I looked to my left across the huge,
multi-levelled expanse of the reception area. There was floor after
floor of galleries above my head, each positioned in a slightly
different angle than the others. I looked right and saw a desk. But
still I did not see Aeniah.

I rolled my
wrist towards my face. I clicked on the comms to open a channel.
‘Aeniah, where are you,’ I whispered. The comms simply rolled to
channels of static. There was no reply. There was also nothing that
could have taken her away. This could only have meant one thing,
that one of the intelligent infected was here. I remembered Blue
Dawn’s categories. Most infected lost their mental faculties, but
there were a minority who had retained their intelligence. In
short, I was frightened out of my wits. Indeed if a single one had
retained its intelligence then there was no telling what technology
it would have at its disposal.

Aware that I
had to find supplies for the mission, I decided to continue. I
could not run throughout this building to find her, simply to fall
into a trap. The supplies had to be prioritised.