City Of Phase

by George Willson

  He heard no shouting behind him, nor did he notice any footfalls other than his own. He did not look back either. He only ran until the fatigue, pain, and loss of blood caught up to him and forced him down. He did not know how far he had come, but he could still see the Carburast fence to his left. He figured he would stay in the brush near the fence to see what happened. If he were lucky, no one would find him, and perhaps, he would see his family for the first time in ten years.

  He crawled a few yards to a nearby bush and rested. He never heard anyone follow him before he involuntarily closed his eyes. He did not want to sleep, but he could not go any further. The next time he opened his eyes, he would go home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The explosion rattled the concrete walls of the sewer tunnel, and Blake and Perry paused in their run to look back to the darkness behind in wonder as to what happened. They had done as Hector and Velata instructed and ran without looking back. They knew Halloway would be on their tails, and only with a sufficient head start would they have any prayer of reaching their destination before anyone overtook them. Even then, it seemed a long shot.

  “I hope that wasn’t anyone we knew,” Perry said, his body language inclining to go back and find out.

  “No time to find out,” Blake said. “We have to use the time they gave us. Besides, we’re being followed, so it’s a guarantee that if we did go back, we’d certainly go all the way, but in custody.”

  “Unless they shot us on sight,” Perry suggested.

  “Which is a very real possibility,” Blake noted.

  A brief pause to listen to the silence in the tunnels confirmed their suspicion as the sound of footfalls bouncing off the walls reached them. Blake shined his light before them, and they ran through the tunnels as fast as they could while Blake continually watched for his next turn. The tunnel seemed to go on forever.

  When Blake paused for a moment to check their surroundings, Perry asked, “How much further is it?”

  “The generator is in the middle of the city,” Blake said. “We’ve got to get that far first, and then it’s a number of turns to get near the building itself. I’m checking the markings on the walls to figure out where we are.” He pointed the light at a wall that read “Filoche Blvd.”

  “Are they alphabetical?” Perry asked. Blake shook his head.

  “It’s actually kind of random,” Blake said. “Well, random to us anyway. It might be alphabetical to them or some other common filing system. Also remember the translator does the best it can with the written word. Not every civilization would use the same sorting methods, and who knows how this really looks to them.”

  “So are we close then?” Perry asked.

  “Well, it can’t be much further,” Blake said. “I don’t know how far we’ve come, but the city isn’t that big. I just hope we can get to where we need to go before they decide to start firing.”

  As if on cue, a couple of shots rang out behind them. Blake stared behind them, momentarily surprised. He looked at Perry who smirked.

  “You were saying?” Perry said.

  “Run,” Blake urged, and they charged down the tunnel recklessly. Blake desperately shined his light on the walls looking for those street markings to roll by. They passed several more as more shots hit the walls around them. Blake hazarded a glance back, but the lights from the soldiers were not immediately visible.

  “Hoping for soon,” Perry said.

  “Turn here,” Blake said as he ran to the left down another corridor virtually identical to the last one. He made a quick right after that followed by another left.

  “You know where we’re going?” Perry asked.

  “I know where we were going,” Blake panted. “Now I’m improvising trying to get us back on track.”

  “Not lost, I hope,” Perry said.

  “I would never admit to such a thing,” Blake smiled. He shot to the right again and then took another left. He paused and looked down a tunnel, shining his light on the wall to show “Center Avenue.”

  “This way, I think,” Blake said, but another shot hit the wall in front of them.

  “Stop where you are or we’ll cut you down,” one of the soldiers said. Blake and Perry turned to find a group of soldiers approaching them, weapons at the ready.

  “We can make it,” Blake whispered. “Go down that way.” Blake inclined his head the direction they had started to go. Perry nodded, and without a thought, they both darted into the hall. The soldiers responded by firing at them again, but they missed. “Right!” Blake called out, so Perry turned immediately to find himself at a ladder.

  “Up we go,” Blake urged. “Quickly.”

  Perry climbed up the ladder toward an opening in the road. Blake climbed after him as fast as they could go. Perry pushed on the hole’s cover and threw it out of the way.

  He emerged into an intersection surrounded by some very tall buildings followed immediately by Blake. He surveyed their surroundings, and chuckled to himself. The passage deposited them in almost the exact location where the Maze’s elevator doors had placed them only a few days ago. Had they known what to do at the time, they would have been right where they needed to be.

  Recalling the road map and the location of the phase shield building, he spotted it about a block away.

  “That’s it,” he said, pointing it out to Perry. “We’re almost there.” They ran toward it as fast as they could move.

  “How long do you think we have?” Perry asked.

  “No idea,” Blake said. “Assuming we were safe in the tunnels below, the clock starts ticking now, so we can’t waste time.”

  “Hold it!” a soldier called out. They stopped immediately, and with more than a little frustration, Blake put up his hands and nodded to Perry to do the same. This development would not help them at all.

  They turned to find the six soldiers with their weapons leveled at them approaching.

  “Walk toward us, and keep your hands up,” the soldier in the lead commanded.

  “Just want to assure you we’re making no sudden moves,” Blake said, deliberately delaying their return to that hole in the ground. He suspected that if the soldiers got them back underground, they would never return.

  “Approach us quickly, and return to the sewers,” the soldier said, fear coming through his voice. Rather than run, Blake walked slowly toward them, his hands still over his head.

  “I don’t think you all are going to make it,” Blake warned nodding toward the lead soldier’s legs. He looked down to find his legs already phasing out. He looked back to the other soldiers, and horizontal phase lines were whipping around them as well. All around them, people from Carburast phased in, standing still like sentinels waiting for the inevitable.

  “I’m sorry,” Blake said. “Will you allow us to save you as well?”

  The lead soldier lost his fight entirely, lowered his weapon and nodded. Blake and Perry lowered their arms and watched as the small squad of six soldiers phased out. They turned back around to find others standing before them pointing toward the phase shield building. Blake took a deep breath.

  “Move!” he said, and he and Perry ran once more toward the building, crossing the distance in under a minute.

  Upon reaching the door, Blake noted the keypad next to it and entered Velata’s passcode which unlocked it. They tore open the door and charged into the building lobby. There were several directions they could go upon their entry, so they paused for a moment looking dumbly at each of them.

  “I had hoped this would be self-evident,” Blake said, but as soon as he had, someone appeared, pointing one direction, so he assumed that must be it. “Let’s hope there are enough of them to show us the way in here.”

  They reached the next door, and Blake entered the code again to get them through. They charged down a long hallway checking the various signs on the doors as they ran, but then someone appeared at the end of the hallway pointing around a corner. Blake nodded to Perry as they went along and ch
arged around the end of the hall to another door which Blake opened with Velata’s code again.

  “Something’s happening to me,” Perry said fearfully, looking at his body in surprise. Blake glanced back and did not see anything apparent, but he suspected one might feel the phasing before it happened.

  “All we can do is keep moving,” Blake said tearing through the door. “It’s too late to turn back now.”

  Someone pointed them down the hall a little further and around another corner to a large security sort of area with a code panel and a keyhole. Blake pointed to the code panel which was dark, unlike all the other ones they had passed previously.

  “Get ready to enter 2663 when I get this lock broken,” Blake said as he pulled out his electronic lockpick. He selected the right key blank, inserted it into the lock, and pressed the button. A quick buzz later, the tumbler turned in the lock, and the keypad lit up. Perry entered the code and the large door between them opened.

  They ran into the next room which was a large open area with a huge ball-shaped machine in the middle of it with a single spire passing up through the roof. Electrical sparks of blue shot up and down the spire at random. Someone phased in front of them and pointed up a short flight of steps to a control panel overlooking the ball-shaped phase shield generator.

  As they ran up the steps, Perry phased out completely before popping back in ahead of Blake. He paused in his run and looking back to Blake with fear.

  “Time’s almost up,” he said. Blake passed him and looked over the panel, which had changed somewhat since Velata’s final plan. There were several levers in an upward position along with two keys at either end in locks set to “Close” below a lidded area with knobs set to “Max.”

  “Pull every lever down,” Blake said desperately. Together they pulled the levers down, the whirring sound of the power winding down with each pull. “Turn the key to open the panels.”

  They both turned the keys to “Open,” and simultaneously, the lids popped open. “One more step to go,” Blake said.

  “Blake,” he heard Perry say with a broken voice. Blake turned to find Perry phasing out completely. “Sorry…” And he was gone. Blake stood for a second in shock at losing a second person, but he did not have time to dwell on this for a moment. He had to finish this alone.

  He turned the knob under the panel he had opened to zero, and did not stay to see the power levels drop. He ran to the other side of the panel but then ran into the side of the panel unexpectedly tripping himself to the floor. He gathered he had phased and crossed more ground than he had expected in that moment. He looked up to see a man dressed as a scientist pointing that the final knob that Perry had unlocked.

  He jumped to his feet and reached for the knob, but his hand passed through it! He reached again and took hold of it. Because he was phasing, the knob was harder to turn, but he moved it from maximum down to zero and looked for only a second before he phased out of existence.

  He perceived the world of the phased for only a moment as he continued to powerlessly watch the panel’s power levels drop little by little. He looked around and saw no one else with him, and he wondered if everyone was lonely unless they stood still. He looked back to the panel and watched the levels reach zero.

  The sparks that ran along the spire of the generator stopped. Blake waited for what felt like an eternity in this strange netherworld, but as soon as he feared the worst, he perceived his body unphasing with the same sort of horizontal stripes wrapping around him. He looked around the room, and everyone else in the room, along with Perry, slowly phased back into existence.

  The scientists who had been here when this was turned on ten years ago all looked around and cheered. Several made their way to the panel to see Blake and Perry, including a few that they recognized as pointing them along the right path. The scientist who had pointed to the final knob was the first to shake Blake’s hand.

  “You did it!” he exclaimed. “How did you get in?”

  “Well,” Blake said, “we’re not from around here.”

  “I’d love to talk to you about it,” the scientist said, “but at the moment, it doesn’t matter. Thank you. Thank you so much for rescuing us.”

  The scene repeated itself many, many times as Blake and Perry walked away from the panel with hands being shaken and hugs being given by the people in the room who were likely much more reserved than this on a normal basis. After ten years of virtual imprisonment, however, social conventions were right out, and it did not matter to anyone.

  They made their way outside to find the city in a joyous uproar. It was times like these that made Blake really appreciate what they did. Not everything worked out this well, but it was always the best of feelings when it did.

  “Do you think that means we’re done?” Perry asked.

  “As soon as we find Michelle,” Blake said. They walked across the town toward the now useless military base at its border. As they walked, people continued to shake their hands, hug, and even kiss them both while gushing thanks after thanks before moving on.

  * * * * * * *

  Michelle had not moved since that moment when she had phased into the population of the city and experienced the longest silence she had ever known. When the shield dropped, she appeared along with everyone else at the same time and heard the celebrations begin across the town, but while she was happy to be free again, she could have nothing to celebrate until Blake and Perry returned. She knew they would come back for her. They had to.

  She looked to the base that had sacrificed her to the whims of their commander, and they could only stare in awe at the celebrations they could do nothing about. Their presence no longer had any purpose here, and she wondered about the convicts who had been placed in this part of town over the years.

  She looked around and saw a bench just off the side of the road and decided that staying put in one place would be the best thing she could do to let them find her. After she sat down, Dorin, the other person who had been put in here at the same time, approached her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. She only nodded in response. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just have to wait for my friends,” she said. “I don’t know them that well, but I have to assume they’ll find me.”

  “Oh, they will,” Dorin assured her. “When they went with us to the power plant, Blake’s main concern was for your well being, and he was really quite angry that we placed the mission over your safety. He’ll find you.”

  This helped quite a bit, and Dorin’s subsequent decision to remain with her until they arrived was a comfort, since she did not know anyone here apart from him.

  Suddenly, the logo on her shirt beeped once. She looked down at it dumbly. She remembered Blake telling her it was some kind of communication device, but she did not know how it worked. She touched it and uttered a confused, “Hello?”

  “Michelle, this is Blake. How are you doing?” Blake’s familiar voice rang out from the logo on her shirt as clear as if he were standing next to her without a trace of electronic distortion.

  “I’m fine,” Michele replied. “I’m still right where you left me.”

  “I was hoping so,” Blake replied. “Perry and I are on our way over there, so we’ll see you in a moment.”

  Her wait was thankfully short as Blake and Perry showed up less than ten minutes later. She was so happy to see them again that she smiled and ran towards them throwing her arms around Blake’s neck. He returned her embrace, clearly happy to see her again. She turned to Perry and hugged him as well before standing before them both.

  “It’s about time,” she said.

  “Did you experience the passage of time or anything?” Blake asked, forcing her to recall her limited time in the phase shield.

  “Every second,” she replied with a bit of a shiver. “It was like being awake and asleep at the same time. I never felt hungry or tired or the need to use the bathroom. I could see what was going on and even hear some of it, but I could
not interact with anything. I only saw people if we both were still.”

  “Could you move around?” Blake asked.

  “Yes,” Michelle shrugged, “but I didn’t have anywhere to go.”

  “So you did it then,” Dorin said, walking up behind her. He put out his hand. Blake shook it, and for the first time since they met, Dorin looked genuinely happy, which was not surprising. “When she just sat down here, I figured you would turn up. You don’t seem the type to leave anyone behind.”

  “What are you going to do from here?” Perry asked.

  “Find my family, of course,” Dorin replied, “and Gerard. Pick up the pieces. Same as everyone else. Try to help the people here catch up on the last ten years. They’re the ones that kept us going through all of this. Hopefully, life can return to some semblance of normal once everything has calmed down, though I suspect they have a lot to do here before that happens.”

  “We wish you the best of luck,” Blake said. “Please thank Hector for us. His help was invaluable.”

  “Really?” Dorin asked, surprised.

  “Couldn’t have done it without him,” Perry said. “And Doctor Velata.”

  “Hector, huh? I never would have guessed,” Dorin said. “Well, he’ll have the thanks of everyone here, I assure you. Why don’t you come with me? There are so many people who would love to meet you.”

  The familiar ding of the elevator sounded over the crowd, and Michelle turned to find those strange elevator doors opening in the middle of the street behind them. No one around them even acknowledged the doors’ presence, and behind the doors was the inside of the car that brought them here. Michelle was in awe that they appeared right here before them, and that they did so at this moment. Blake smiled.

  “We’d love to, but I’m afraid it’s time for us to go,” Blake said.

  “Go? How?” Dorin asked. “How did you get here anyway?”

  “Hard to explain,” Blake said frankly. “It will look like we walk right through an invisible door.”

  Dorin appeared very skeptical, but finally shrugged. “Very well,” he said holding out his hand once more for Blake to shake, “take care of yourselves. Perhaps we’ll meet again.”