Chapter 22
“The man’s name was Duke Wills; he was in charge of the local radio tower down on Newport.””He supplied the island with daily jams, news, weather and basically anything else he could receive from their sister station in Brazil which had not cut their frequency, however a World wide band was put on every country not allowing them to interact with anyone in the U.S and most signals where jammed so he could get what was coming in, but could not deliver a single message outside of the U.S.” ”Duke was as excited to hear from me as I was to hear from him, he had explained that this way a total of forty people had been given the good news of Newport and now they all safely resided on the island.” Day after day we talked and he begged me to make the trek to Newport, but I was scared, it seemed so far and I had not gone more than a few meters out of the factory in so many years.” “He even introduced me to his family and friends, in an attempt to convince me, and eventually I decided I would make the journey.”” Now at that stage I had no Slap-Band, just his directions and changed landscape that looked as foreign to me as a mars.”
“I explained my conundrum to Duke and he understood the debacle I faced, I hate to say he taunted me, but he did manage to persuade me as he explained the grandeurs of the island.” explained how I could imagine being around other people again, and feeling a pinch of harmony at night in this new safe haven, not having to wake up every time I heard a bang.””The isolation of human contact would soon be over if I got to Newport.” “Dave told me how the island was isolated from the main land and the few reapers that were on the island in the beginning during the development of Newport were eradicated.” ”This was a Reaper free zone, not only that but he also told me there was a system of government in play and he explained how the soldiers of Newport assured its Safety, there was no threat from Reapers or from other humans, this was no lawless society.” “He also briefly touched on something called the Apex project as well, I never quite understood what he was referring to, but it was not to my concern, I was more interested in the warm showers and cosy beds he promised, what was most intriguing though, was the promise of a proper place to work, with the best equipment, focused on research and development, to think I could be in my environment again studying.” The professor could see we were intrigued in his story of Newport, but was it enough to risk our families live on such a treacherous trek with just his word as proof.
“Look the reality of the situation is I know you are not going to help me get to the island without some sort of hard evidence, and I can assure you hard evidence is exactly what you are going to get.”
The professor pulled out his Slap-Band, after tweaking it a bit an image shot from the device, this was one of the Slap-Bands modified apps, nothing out of the ordinary for 2030 technology, you could send and receive videos of previous places you were from one device to another, almost as simple as a cell phone video. As the Video expanded a man’s face popped onto the screen, Sharif looked at me once again, and this time though it was out of complete curiosity, had the Professor been right the entire time? I could only presume the man on the screen was Duke Wills and as he began to speak my breath escaped from my body.
The man on the video began speaking, “Hi Anthony, I can only hope this video reaches you in one piece, I will be contacting you soon via the radio to find out its arrival.” “I would like to show you the wonders of our little town my friend in hopes I can persuade you to join us.”
Then Duke moved the camera from his face and pointed it at the town, immediately Sharif and I gassed in excitement of what we were witnessing as we saw children running past the camera, couples walking hand in hand smiling, then suddenly the image just disappeared.” Unable to contain my excitement, I shouted out “No come back!” Almost immediately I realised what I had done and shut my mouth in complete embarrassment. Sharif had a better control over his emotions and asked the professor about the reliability of the video, started drilling the Professor with questions, “Why did the video cut, why was no others sent, could we contact Duke via the radio?” But the Professor shook his head, he seemed depressed and scared at the questions asked and only when he replied did I understand why.
“Almost a month ago I stopped receiving all calls from Duke, it’s like he completely forgot about me.””The first few days I presumed he must have been too preoccupied, but then week after week I lost hope until I came to the conclusion I would not receive another broadcast from my new friend.”“But this does not change the fact that Newport exists, it is there regardless of Dukes presence, and I know what I am asking is a lot but with what I have given you I cannot see any reason not to believe this place is real, oh and there’s one last little thing which may help change your mind, call it my little, big back up plan.”
We went entered the basement of the Factory and in the middle stood something huge, covered with oil stained tarp. The professor ran to the tarp grabbed it in one hand and began presenting his little toy, “Mr Goodridge, Mr Sharif I give you my little angle, Big Betty!” As the Professor pulled the trap away, a large Truck was revealed. It was still in mint condition, not even the rims were scuffed. It looked like the New Chevy 234 Wildfire.
A double cab monster of an automobile, I asked the Professor why the hell had he not just taken the trip along time ago then, but his answer put him to shame. “During my time at the university I never saw the need to use a car, I bicycle or Solarcycle seemed so much more environmentally friendly and honestly who wants to be wasting all that money on gas!” The professor was trying to justify his reasons in never learning to drive, and as his cheeks reddened in shame, so I quickly changed the subject trying to save him any further embarrassment.
“This changes everything professor, if this truck still runs we can manage to make it to the island and back in a matter of hours.” I looked to Sharif for his support and with a single nod I knew he was onboard with the idea of Newport.
Northern Exposure: The Divided Page 21
