The skies above were clear but it started to rain nonetheless. It wasn’t the pure, recycled waters that would pour from the Zuva lights to nourish Terra. The rain was red, tainted with the bones of its oppressors and its victims. There was nothing revitalizing about it. It only served as evidence to Mwene that the world was cruel, indifferent and bloody.
With Nike on his shoulders, he slowly climbed out of the crater, careful not to step on any bone, flesh, splinters or shards of metal. Once he stepped out of the wet crater he looked back, drenched to the skin, and saw everything that was in the settlement destroyed. Nothing but red soil. In the distance he could hear helicopters and vehicles approach. He continued to walk through the forest with only his unconscious best friend as company.
The lights dimmed as he slowly travelled on the narrow dust road. Nature had slowly begun to reclaim it with its thick bushes and tall grass encroaching it on the sides. He couldn't see much of his surroundings because of how lush it was. He occasionally peeked over his shoulder and glanced at the sky making sure no one had followed him but it seemed like he was in the clear. He hoped that he wouldn't bump into anyone but it was unlikely considering they were tens of kilometres from the nearest settlement and hundreds from the closest town.
Eventually the road just ended at a large baobab tree that sat at the bottom of a cliff. Mwene, parked the motorcycle and carried Nike and sat him behind the tree before he trudged past the thorn bushes before he stood in front of the cliff's rusty orange face. He lightly pressed a rock that slightly protruded outwards. A small section of the cliff face, enough for two reasonably sized people, just slides upwards with a dark abyss staring back at him. Mwene walked back and carried Nike into the room and the door slid shut promptly after them.
A hum fills the room before fluorescent lamp lights start to flicker on to reveal a windowless square room . It's walls were a dull charcoal grey. Steam-like gas flooded the room from the corners of the room for a moment before a tinny female AI voice spoke through a hidden speaker somewhere within the room.
“Disinfection complete. Welcome on board.”
A door in front of him unbolted with a loud, sharp and brief hiss. He walked through and glanced to his right to see a long hallway with a distant red light at its end whilst to his left was a spacey circular room. At the end of the room were dozens of monitors that covered half the room in a semi-circle pattern. Two chairs making the first row were at the very front of the room with a black console in between. Three chairs behind them made the second and last row, with two close to the wall and one in the middle with a single monitor in front of it. It was a cock pit stripped down to its essential instruments.
Mwene couldn't explain but it felt right. He felt at peace here like he did when he was in the air a couple of days ago. It reminded him of his mother's cooking, how the smell of roasted chicken would wake him up on tranquil Sunday mornings. The banter amongst his friends in the crowded taverns after a monotonous week of work. The smell of motor oil on a floor of the dozens, if not hundreds of barns he's worked in. The smiles and looks of relief of the farmers and their families when their generation's old combined harvesters roared back to life knowing they can still provide for themselves and others.
He carefully placed Nike down on the captain's chair. He was as peaceful as the ship, still sleeping. He walked into the hallway with flickering lights. The air was bitter, frost formed a thin layer on the walls and the floor grating. At the end of the hallway is a heavy duty security door with a glowing scarlet red light. He pulled its lever and pushed the door open. The room itself was completely dark with the exception of a lamp focused on the back of a console at the end of the room. As he walked to it while being careful not to step or kick the tools, screws, nuts and bolts scattered across the silver floor.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
He reached the lit console and bent down on his knee and looked into the console revealing a jumbled mess of wires with a voltmeter attached. He glanced at the screen which had a reading of 14.5 volts.
“That's good" he told himself before reaching into the console and picking out two wires, one red and one blue, with their ends stripped. He touched the ends and the lights of the ship came alive. Consoles in the engine room thrummed to life. He stood up and looked around the room. Consoles stood parallel to the wall with a gap big enough for someone lean like him to fit through. They were solid black, bulky rectangular block that stood upright up to his waist. The tops were angled at 45 degrees with various knobs, levels, buttons and screens on them. In the middle of the room was a giant vantablack tank that stretched from the floor to the ceiling and beyond. It had no bolts or nuts or any weld lines. It was cold to the touch but the smoothest thing Mwene had ever felt. A low buzz resonated from it.
A beeping noise from the cockpit caught Mwene’s attention. He jogged through the now cosy hallway until he arrived to find Nike swiping on a touch screen at the front of the room. He figured out how to stop the beeping notification.
“I hope this ship has a medical bay.” his honeyed voice was music to Mwene's ears asked hopefully. Nike looked back with an infectious smile. Mwene sighed and smiled back.
It was the dead of night and Chase pressed his heavily scarred bare palm against the soil at the edge of the crater. It was still as warm as it was hours ago. Helicopters hovered above him illuminating the crater. White tents of various sizes surrounded the crater. Men in hazmat suits used instruments ranging from hand held electronic devices to flying drones over it. Soldiers with bloodhounds and torches searched the nearby forest. One soldier approached Chase, he saluted him by heel tapping his feet together whilst covering his left eye with his left palm before opening it outwards diagonally into a salute before sharply bringing down the arm in one swift motion. Chase nodded and the soldier approached with a pocket compass in hand. Its needle spun around wildly clockwise then in an anti-clockwise direction without warning.
“All our GPS devices are like this, analogue or mechanical.” the soldier reported. Before he could react another soldier approached, saluted and showed him something on a tablet he had in his hand. Chases’ eyes gradually widened in surprise. His phone rang. The soldier stepped back and looked down. Chase answered. He raised his eyebrow for a moment before regaining his composure.
“I understand,” he noted.
He put his phone away and walked to the biggest tent pitched next to the crater. He entered it and the smell of plastic flooded his lungs, the soldiers and staff all noticed, dropped what they were doing and stood at attention and saluted in complete silence. It hung in the air ominously until Chases’ nod signalled to everyone to continue their work. Chase made a beeline to the communications officer who unblinkingly watched him approach from the other end of the tent. He had a table that was absolutely covered with tablets, monitors and radios and all the appropriate wiring that comes with them.
"Send out a communique to everyone. Set the priority level to 5.” Chase callously instructed.
“Excuse me...5 sir, that's... never been done...…before” stuttered the officer.
"So?" Chase snapped.
Everyone's eyes in the tent were fixed on the two of them. Chase coldly glared at the sweating officer who quickly realised that he had misspoke. He quickly turned to his computer and started to type frantically. Chase slowly turned to the rest of the people in the tent
“Mwene Brown and Nike Alexandros are the targets, this comes directly from the top. Hack every phone, the use of force is permitted and encouraged. These two Terrains are a threat to Paradise and to humanity as a whole. We need to find them and bring them justice. Dead or alive, they'll pay for their sins. " he announced, his smoky voice always drew attention to itself. The rest of the tent quickly shifted back to their jobs. Chase smiled, in anticipation of what was to come.