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Wednesday Evening–New Arcadia
Rick gets the hang of riding the Maggie by himself. The maglev is a transport nom, intelligent enough to self-navigate to a location, but also uses anti-collision sensors and inter-vehicular communication protocols to control speed, spacing and lane changes to arrive at the destination. The result is a speedy, yet fluid ride through the corridors of the underground city.
A speeding utility truck hit Karl and dragged him twenty yards. The self-driving trucks have anti-collision systems, but they’re designed to avoid collisions with other vehicles, not to avoid humans stepping into traffic. Karl’s body lays twisted on blood-splattered orange tiles. Traffic stops. Alarms sound.
The Maggie cruises the main corridor and down a small tunnel before stopping in front of the Surface Integration Storage room. Rick hops off the Maggie and hears an alarm. Guards will search for him; he needs to move fast. He opens the door. The room is dark, but lights come on as he enters. He moves cautiously until he is sure no one is in the large room. He walks through a demonstration room designed to train people how to live on the surface after the disaster.
Rick walks past the demo room and into a large warehouse with rows of tall metal racks stocked with supplies and equipment for over 100,000 survivors.
The City Guard, in their sky-blue tunics, are the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. One look at the broken body lying on the cold tiles and it’s obvious the person is dead. The eyes of a City Guard glow as he views his VUE contact lens. He touches the air to contact the morgue requesting a body wagon.
Another guard kneels over the body. He takes photos of the dead person, then straightens the fingers of one hand to get a scan of the palm and fingerprints. A photo of Dr. Karl Wetzel appears in his VUE. The doctor is a silver tunic. The City Guard alerts the Black Guard.
Rick runs down a row of the warehouse racks, reading the descriptions on the boxes looking for gear he might need. He grabs a backpack, a KA-Bar knife, and a medical kit. He spots a box of machetes. Rick doesn’t expect to be whacking large vines in a jungle but grabs the large blade and slides it in the backpack.
Rick’s pants are ripped. The colonel and the Black Guard will look for a silver tunic; he needs a change of clothes. He spots a box marked Kevlar X9GRS skin suit. Pulling one out of the box, he finds that the material is thick and composed of several layers yet feels like lycra.
The description on the box reads Kevlar/Graphene woven mesh ballistic resistive skin suit. Rick strips off his clothes and pulls on the bulletproof suit. In nearby boxes, he finds black slacks and a black tunic to wear over the skin suit. He stuffs his silver tunic and torn slacks deep in the box of black tunics. He then grabs a pair of boots and pushes his deck shoes into another box.
Black Guard Control receives information on the death of Dr. Karl Wetzel, a silver tunic. Images of the accident and the report appear in Kobalt’s VUE. The colonel sent Dr. Wetzel to look for Dr. Munday. Now, Wetzel is dead. Kobalt does not hesitate. He taps the air. “Black Guard. APB on Dr. Richard Munday, a silver tunic. Capture and relax on sight.”
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As Rick runs through the warehouse overhead lights above each row come to life as he stuffs items in the backpack. He finds a flashlight and a blanket. Jogging down another row, he grabs MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and energy bars.
Rick talks to himself as he rummages through the warehouse. “I might be over thinking this, but I don’t know how long it will take to get home. If all goes well, I hop on the Electro-Rail and I’m home in a few hours. But since I left home, nothing has gone as expected. Better to be a good scout and be prepared.”
Running through the final rows of the warehouse, he picks up a bundle of military-grade 550 Para-cord, a fancy name for a strong rope, a fire-starting kit, and a canteen for water.
Platoons of Black Guard stream from their hidden quarters, riding beefed up maglevs. These shiny black Maggies are sturdier and faster than normal maglevs. Thirty-Two Black Guard split into groups of eight, each group heading in a different direction; all in search of Dr. Richard Munday.
The alarm stops. Rick runs through the demo room and glimpses himself in a mirror. He stops to view his image. He wonders if he can get to the Rail Station unnoticed. Rick jumps on the Maggie and speeds through the underground complex to the Rail Station.
A Black Guard investigator arrives at the scene of Dr. Wetzel’s death. He examines the body and goes through Karl’s pockets. In one pocket he finds a vial of a viscous fluid. The investigator bags the vial and dictates a note into his band. The victim wore glasses, now broken. They are refractive, used to improve vision, not VUE lens. He adds the glasses to the evidence bag. The victim wore a wristwatch. It’s a Patek Philippe, an expensive old watch that only keeps time. The investigator removes the watch and slides it into the pocket of his slacks. He pulls up Karl’s file. Karl used a Smart-Band. The investigator makes a note; the victim’s band is missing.
The Maggie speeds Rick to the Electro-Rail station. Rick hops from the Maggie to the tiled floor, adjusts his backpack to hang from one shoulder, and walks casually hoping he won’t be noticed. Karl’s band is on his forearm. Entrance to the expansive station requires walking through a gantry. Rick strolls watching people enter and exit. There is no turnstile or gate. You don’t need money or a ticket. The system must wirelessly connect to people’s band or VUE. Green LED lights flash overhead as each person passes through.
Rick assumes that if an unauthorized person walks through, red lights flash, alarms sound and bad things happen to the violator. He rubs Karl’s band. Karl said he would need the band to enter the station. Rick prays it works as he walks through the gantry. No alarms or red lights. No Black Guard. Relieved, he walks into the massive station trying not to look lost.
People he walks past look down and move away. He wonders why everyone is so shy. He also avoids eye contact and walks to the mezzanine over-looking the Electro-Rail vacuum tubes and platforms. The Rail Station is busy with passenger and cargo cars arriving and departing. Rick wanders along the mezzanine, which traverses the width of the Rail Station. Signs along the mezzanine mark stairways leading down to passenger platforms.
Rick becomes transfixed watching the activity in the Rail Station. He catches his mind drifting. He needs to focus, so he reaches for Karl’s pipe and takes two quick drags. In a few moments, his mind is clear.
A group of people gather at a monitor. Rick stands behind them, trying to read the tube schedule. When the people notice him, they disperse. Rick thinks it’s strange, but he doesn’t want to talk to anyone anyway. He wants to get home.
Rick scans the schedule, looking for a passenger car heading to Edendale. The destinations have names like New Elysian, Ambrosia, Nod, Edendale, and New Dakota. New Dakota is the only name that sounds like a real place. Rick recalls the map he saw during the orientation video with routes leading to Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.
As Rick tries to decipher the destinations and schedules, a man stands next to him. “Where are you heading?”
Rick answers without looking at the man. “To New Los Angeles.”
“New Los Angeles? You mean Edendale?”
“Oh yeah, Edendale. I’ll never get used to the new city names.” Rick tries to make lite of his mistake. The screen flashes with schedule updates. A rail car destined for Edendale will depart in forty minutes.
“Yeah, we all do that, sometimes. Did you get leave or did they transfer you?” the man asks.
Rick looks at the man. He is Black Guard. Rick almost panics but realizes the black tunic and black slacks he wears makes him look like Black Guard.
“Oh, I got leave. My mother is dying. Three-day pass.” Rick lies. He hopes Black Guard get three day passes for dying mothers.
The guard slaps Rick on the back. “Lucky for you. Oh... sorry about your mom, though. I’m stuck here. You know we’re code red, right? Nuclear War alert. They say it’s not a drill, but I’ll believe that when I see the mushroom cloud, right?”
Rick shrugs. “Yeah, code red, doesn’t get more serious than that. Guess I lucked out, except for my mom, of course.” Rick tries to look sad. He doesn’t want to linger, so he turns away.
“Hey,” the guard calls out.
Rick stops.
The guard gives Rick a look over and taps his nose. “Where’s your D-Nox?”
Rick must think quick on his feet. He’s glad he cleared his mind with the puffs off Karl’s pipe. “Oh, I took it out. The ring freaks out Mom. I think she has some bad memories or something. I don’t want to scare her.”
“Oh man. That must have hurt!” the guard says, cringing.
“Stung like the devil, man. You wouldn’t believe it.” Rick says, holding his nose.
“You better watch the atmosphere, even in the rail cars.”
Rick taps his arm. “I’ll be all right. Got the patch.”
“There’s a patch? Wow. These guys think of everything. Hey, you know when you get there, you can’t get topside to visit your mom. Movement to the surface is locked down, at least until they cancel the alert.”
“Oh? Right. My mom, ah, she lives in the new city. She operates food actualizers in the cafeteria. No need to get topside. That’s how I got leave.”
The Black Guard nods approval but is distracted by his VUE. His gaze is focused above Rick’s head. Rick prepares to run.
The Black Guard is entertained by what he’s seeing in his VUE. He looks like a smiling blind man. “Oh man, it’s a bad day for Silvers. One got mowed down in the west corridor and there’s another one on the run.”
Rick wants to flee, but if he makes a scene, he’s dead for sure.
The guard moves his fingers in front of his face to answer a call. “No, sir. I checked the map. There are no silvers in the station. OK, sir. Right away, sir. I’m on it,” he says.
The guard adjusts his head to focus on his surroundings as if he’s suddenly recovered his vision. “I gotta run, have to guard the entrance. No one gets into the station. Hope your mom is better, you’re a lucky bastard.” The guard runs to the entrance.
Captain Kobalt sent out an entire Black Guard company in search of one man, and they have come up empty. Workers wearing VUE lens or bands are easy to track. Kobalt checks Munday’s file. It confirms he doesn’t have a VUE and his band was confiscated upon arrival.
The atmosphere in the city makes people more compliant. Incidents are rare. Black Guard has not needed to track down an individual until now. Kobalt messages his lieutenants. “Start door-to-door checks of residential and office areas.”
They are code red. The asteroid storm is about to arrive. Kobalt knows this is not a drill. It aggravates him that his guard can’t find and relax one man. What will happen if all hell breaks loose? He must maintain control. He doesn’t want to suffer the wrath of Cruikshank’s fury.
Kobalt reviews the investigator’s report of Dr. Wetzel’s death in his VUE. Dr. Wetzel’s band is missing. Could Munday have stolen the band? Kobalt runs a locate on Wetzel’s band.
Kobalt calls his Black Guard. “He’s in the Rail Station. All units to the railway station. Now!”
Rick watches the friendly Black Guard run off. He is sure this is the most excitement the guard has seen since his arrival in New Arcadia. Rick needs to find a place to hide until the passenger car for Edendale departs.
He walks down the stairs to a passenger platform scouting for a hiding place. At the rear of the platform, a walkway runs the length of the Rail Station connecting the platforms to a large storage area. Rick moves down the walkway to the far end of the station. The area is dark and quiet, stacked with empty freight cars. He ducks between a row of rail cars just as his band displays a recorded video of Karl.
“Hey, dumb shit. Someone just ran a locate on this band. They know where you are. Ditch the band.” Karl must have hacked the system to notify him if anyone tracked the Band. Rick removes the band.
“Thanks, Karl, for saving me. Again.”
Rick runs to the back row of rail cars and tosses the band in an empty freight car. He runs through the storage area toward the stairs he walked down, watching for Black Guard.
Black Guard platoons’ stream through the Rail Station entrance. As each guard passes through the gantry, red lights flash and alarms sound. The Black Guard carry weapons that look like paintball guns. Passengers and workers scramble to avoid the swarm of guards. Rick moves to the front of the storage area where he can see most of the station. He crawls under an empty freight car, inching forward, so he can see what’s happening, yet careful to remain out of view.
Guards move through the station and onto the passenger platforms. A group of guards split off and run to the far end of the Rail Station. Rick resists the temptation to move, waiting for the right moment to act.
He hears a commotion at the far end of the storage area. “We’ve got you. Come out now.”
The guards have located Karl’s band. A few moments later he hears. “He’s not here. It’s just the band.”
The big, bald man Rick saw knock out the distraught blue-tunic strides through the gantry. The Black Guard leader sizes up the situation. He sees the melee of people trying to avoid the guards. His guards are not taking charge of the situation.
“All teams. Relax everyone. Relax everyone in the station. Now!” Kobalt shouts the order.
Guards fire their weapons into groups of people. The guns make a high-pitched swoosh sound when fired, propelling venom filled darts with airbursts. Passengers and workers fall silently to the floor all over the station.
Kobalt scans the large station for Dr. Munday as Black Guard squads move, relaxing people.
“Team One and Two, sweep the cargo and freight car storage areas. Teams Three and Four, move to the far platform, fan out, and move forward. If he’s hiding out there, you will drive him to me!”
Rick scoots out of sight, under the rail car, as teams of Black Guard run past his position to the far platforms. Rick notices a passenger car moving to platform number five. Three people stand at the end of the platform, anxiously hoping the car will whisk them away before the Black Guard reaches them. Rick hopes they succeed because, in that instant, he decides to join them.
Most of the Black Guard are in the depths of the storage areas or searching the dark, unused platforms, but it wouldn’t be long before they reach him.
Kobalt receives a call from the colonel. “Have you captured Dr. Munday? If you cannot contain this situation, I will transfer you and your Black Guard to the surface.”
Kobalt paces in frustration. “We have him trapped in the Rail Station. He will be relaxed and, in our custody momentarily, sir.”
Rick sees the tough bald guy turn away. He’s talking to someone on his VUE. This is his chance. Keeping low, Rick sprints to the track. He catches up to the moving passenger car. He runs, crouching along the far side of the car, out of Kobalt’s view, then scurries to the front of the car ducking under the aerodynamic nose as the car slows. The car comes to a stop along the platform and the door slides open. Two men and a woman hurry into the car. Rick lifts himself from the track onto the raised cement platform, stands and walks to the door.
When Rick enters the car, the woman passenger sitting at the rear of the car screams. The man next to her tries to quiet the woman.
The other male passenger stands holding up his hands. “We did nothing. Please don’t relax us.”
The man holding the woman calls out, “My wife and I just want to get home. Please let us go.”
Rick raises his hands to show he isn’t carrying a weapon. “I’m not Black Guard. I won’t hurt you. Stay calm. I’m going wherever you’re going.” Rick sits down in the front row, placing his backpack on the floor.
Kobalt ends his call with the colonel, then scans the Rail Station. Turning his view, he realizes there are no people on platform five. There are no bodies relaxed on the cement, and a rail car is now at the platform. He’s about to call his guards when one of his men climbs from the track to the platform and enters the car. He hears a scream. Kobalt smiles.
The guard doesn’t exit the car. Kobalt senses something strange about the guard who entered the car. He runs across the mezzanine toward the platform. While running, he alerts his guards. “He’s in the rail car. Everyone to platform five.” The door of the passenger car begins to close. As Kobalt runs down the stairs, he reaches into a pouch on his belt, pulls out three metal balls, and throws them high in the air. Buzz-Bee’s.
Once the metal balls are in the air, they automatically engage and fly with a high-pitched whirring sound. Openings on the top and bottom are intake and exhaust of miniature turbofans that power the flying spheres. The ports around the diameter support camera, sensors, and weapons. Kobalt uses his VUE to control the Buzz-Bees and see what they see. Kobalt points to the closing door of the passenger car and the Buzz-Bees fly to the car. The door is almost closed. Kobalt flicks his hand signaling the Buzz-Bees to fly faster. Two of the Buzz-Bees make it through just as the door closes, the third smashes into the door. The crashed Buzz-Bee whines as it zips across the cement platform, falling onto the adjacent track where it buzzes and ricochets off the platform walls.
The passengers are frightened of Rick’s presence. He tries to set them at ease. “I want to get home, just like you. I’m heading home to my wife and kids. Where is this car going?”
The frantic woman is crying and cannot answer. Her husband holds her. The other man answers. “This car is going to New Zion. Then I transfer to Nod. I’m not sure where they’re going,” he says, tipping his head toward the couple.
The husband is about to respond when there is a loud smack and the whining of Buzz-Bees. The passengers look to the front of the car as two Buzz-Bees fly in just as the door slides shut. The Buzz-Bees hover, making their whining, whirring sound and the woman screams again. This time no one outside the rail car can hear her, except Kobalt, who sees and hears everything in his VUE.
The passenger car advances into the airlock. Turbines rumble. The environment surrounding the rail car becomes void, a vacuum. Black Guard swarm to the platform. The turbines spin down as Kobalt screams into his VUE. “Stop this thing. Stop it now!”
A reply comes from rail control. “Air lock launch door is opening. We can’t stop it.” The car launches. In a flash, the car shoots down the tube, disappearing into the rock wall.
Kobalt stands on the platform surrounded by his Black Guard as the rail car disappears, but he isn’t watching the car; his eyes are locked on the images in his VUE. Munday sits at the front of the car, with three passengers locked to their seats by the sudden g-force of the rocketing car, stunned by the sight of the Buzz-Bees.
Kobalt smiles. “Sitting ducks.” Kobalt flies one of the Buzz-Bees to the rear of the car while the second Buzz-Bee hovers near the front. The woman screams once more. The Buzz-Bee fires hitting the woman in the face, just below her eye. She cries, clawing at her face trying to remove the venom pumping dart, then falls silent. The Buzz-Bee fires darts at the two men, hitting them both in the chest and they slump in their seats in paralyzed sleep. Thin screens at the front of the car play a video with cheerful music welcoming passengers and providing mundane information about the trip.
Rick watches the Buzz-Bee fly over the passengers. When it shoots the woman, Rick reaches into his pack and grips the handle of the machete. As it shoots the men, Rick pulls the machete from his pack, stands up holding the large blade like a baseball bat and swings at the Buzz-Bee hovering near him. Kobalt is so focused on the passengers he doesn’t notice Rick stand behind the second Buzz-Bee. The machete blade hits the flying metal ball with a ping, sending it smashing into the railcar’s wall. The damaged Buzz-Bee’s turbine whirs with a grating sound.
As the wounded Buzz-Bee flies out of control, Kobalt fires six darts, all of which fly wildly bouncing off the wall or sticking into empty seat cushions.
Kobalt curses and directs the remaining Buzz-Bee toward Munday, who is standing in the aisle holding a machete. Kobalt advances the hovering Buzz-Bee forward slowly, careful to stay out of machete range. He fires a dart hitting Rick in the chest. Munday falls between the seats. Kobalt laughs victoriously.
“Rest peacefully, Dr. Munday.”
Rick feels the dart hit him in the chest. He dives between the row of seats to escape the attack. He looks at his chest. There’s no dart; the skin suit saved him. He reaches for his backpack to use it as a shield.
If he cowers in wait, he’ll be an easy target, so he does the unexpected and jumps to his feet with his machete in one hand, backpack shield in the other. The Buzz-Bee advances toward him. Rick swings at the whirring ball and misses. The Buzz-Bee shoots a dart. Rick covers with his shield and the dart sticks in the backpack. Rick steps into the aisle, swinging his machete like a madman, his shield covering his face. The Buzz-Bee zips left and right, zigzagging through the air as it evades the swinging blade, then moves back to hover at the rear of the car.
“Why isn’t he relaxed? It doesn’t matter; there’s no place for you to go Munday. When the rail car arrives in New Zion, I’ll have a regiment of Black Guard waiting. But I’m not done with you yet. I will not lose to some skinny scientist,” Kobalt says to himself, then moves the Buzz-Bee in for a final attack.
Rick stands in the aisle, watching the flying orb hover at the rear of the car. The machete hangs at his side, but he keeps the backpack shield ready to guard against dart attacks.
The Buzz-Bee races through the air toward him at waist level. In less than three seconds the whirring orb hovers two feet in front of him. Rick instinctively moves the pack to cover his groin area. The Buzz-Bee hangs in the air for a second, then instantly rises to eye level. Rick swings the machete in a forceful upward motion. The flat side of the blade hits the Buzz-Bee just as the Buzz-Bee—ping—fires, sending a dart skimming past Rick’s cheek as the orb smacks into the metal ceiling of the rail car like a bug hitting a windshield. The Buzz-Bee falls to the floor. It’s disabled, but not out of commission.
The dart hits the wall and falls to the floor. “That would not have been pretty,” Rick says as he squashes the venom pumping dart under his boot.
Kobalt screams. His move was perfect. Munday was going down. “Damn you, Munday.”
Kobalt motions for the Buzz-Bee to fly. The injured bee lifts off the floor in a wobbly hover. The Buzz-Bee rises again to eye level, then speeds in jerky motions toward Rick. Kobalt fires. A mechanical plink, plink, plink sound comes from the whirring ball. Munday stands his ground, wiping his brow as the Buzz-Bee hovers a foot from his face.
“Arrgh!” Kobalt is shooting blanks. He motions his hand forward fiercely. The Buzz-Bee zips forward at top speed, hitting Rick in the forehead.
“Ouch!” Rick howls, rubbing his forehead. “No blood, but I bet that’ll leave a mark.”
The Buzz-Bee hovers, unsteadily, a few feet away. Rick drops his backpack, grips the machete, and swings. “Second inning. Batter up!”
Smack! The Buzz-Bee flies the length of the railcar smashing hard against the back wall before falling to the floor and going silent. Rick jumps up and down with his hands in the air cheering for himself as if he’d knocked one out of the park.
The display in Kobalt’s VUE goes black. The Black Guard standing around Kobalt groan.
“You are safe now, Munday, but that car has only one stop, and I guarantee you will not leave that rail car alive.”
Rick looks around the car. The three passengers are asleep. The video screens are now streaming a popular show. A readout across the top of the screen shows the rail car’s speed at 720 miles per hour and arrival in New Zion in two hours, twenty-five minutes. Rick recalls the map he saw of the new cities. He believes New Zion is near Denver, Colorado. He hopes he’s right. New Zion is not Los Angeles, but at least he’s headed in the right direction.
Colonel Cruikshank watched the confrontation between Dr. Munday and Kobalt on his office screen, connected to Kobalt via the captain’s VUE. “Kobalt! How could you let him get away? You are captain of the Black Guard. You can’t capture one scrawny scientist!” The colonel scowls.
“There is nowhere for him to go. Black Guard will capture and relax the doctor when he arrives at New Zion, sir.”
Cruikshank pounds his cane on the floor. “No! You and your elite guard will take the Scramjets to New Zion. You will take Dr. Munday into custody. I don’t trust Lieutenant Astatine. He borders on incompetence. No mistakes. Munday must be controlled. There will be no chaos or disorder in the new cities. I will not stand for it!”
Kobalt touches the air in front of his face. “Elite Guard. Report to Scramjets. We launch immediately.”
Rick stands in the aisle with the machete at his side waiting to be sure the battle is won. His heartbeat slows as the adrenaline subsides. He drops into the front seat, slides the machete into his backpack, and lays the pack in the seat next to him.
He is safe for now and moving toward home, but he doesn’t like his chances once he arrives at New Zion. Black Guard will be there waiting for him. Even if he can evade the guards, the city is on lockdown. He lies across the seat, using his backpack as a pillow and takes a nap.
The elite guard glide in formation on maglevs to the hypersonic Scramjet launch facility. The cavernous launch center is high and wide with rocky unfinished walls, unlike the domed rooms of the city. Three streamlined jets are lined up wing tip to wing tip, each one on a separate magnetic launch track, ready to fly. Besides the pilot and copilot, each jet has space for six passengers.
The jets are hypersonic hybrid Scramjets capable of reaching Mach 6. Their speed enables them to traverse the US continent in forty minutes, or circumnavigate Earth in six hours, making the jets the perfect rapid response vehicle.
Kobalt stands in the center jet’s doorway. “To New Zion!” He shouts thrusting his arm into the air, then ducks through the low doorway disappearing into the jet. The elite guard file into the jets.
Reinforced cement doors slide open at the top of a mountain. An Electro-magnetic launcher thrusts the hypersonic Scramjets on tracks bursting out of the mountaintop access at six hundred miles per hour. Once airborne, the turbine engines engage propelling the jets to an elevation of sixty thousand feet. The distance to Denver is too short to reach maximum speed, so the jets travel at Mach 3 without firing the Scramjets. The elite Black Guard will land in Denver less than thirty minutes later.
