by Kir Lukovkin
“Every sector has its own gen-er-at-or.”
“You're doing well. The machines in every sector where this sort of generator is turned on will work until the energy runs out. And then it turns off.”
“Darkness and cold.”
Maya nodded.
“This is why the Council sent the expeditions to find out where the generator is located, find out what happened to it, and...” she cut herself short.
“Not to turn it on. To save energy,” Ahmed added, “and for safety reasons.”
Rick, who was more experienced in such matters, had a different opinion.
“That is no reason at all. I don't know who are the members of your Council, but they want to profit to keep their power. People are the same everywhere.”
“They are not like that. They think of the good of everyone.”
“Let's get away from this subject. Now something is becoming clear to me.” He remembered his ragged piece of paper, “Have a look. What would you say about this?”
The girl laid the sheet out on the table. All three bent over the diagram, holding their breaths. For some reason, it now seemed to Rick that this might not quite be the map of the Omicron sector.
“I would bet my liver,” Ahmed whispered, “that we have the diagram of the Fifth aeon here.”
He slid his finger down the drawing, reading out loud.
“Air Generator, sections A-D, Raw Material Warehouses. Waste Processing Plant. Water Station. Energy Station. Moisture Collectors, reservoirs 1-4. Sectors Phi, Xi, Psi, Aqua, Omega... Where did you get this?”
“Kyoto, the old man that helped us leave the Commune gave it to me. What's an aeon?”
“As far as we know, it is a block that unites five sectors. Aeons are divided by aerial space. Like the one where those abominations live,” Ahmed pointed upwards, reminding them of Yarg's camp.
“These aeons were probably once connected to each other,” Maya replied, “using elevators. But they were sealed because of the Plague...”
She swayed and nearly fell off the table.
“We need to eat. We have become too weak,” Rick insisted.
“I found something around here when I woke up,” Ahmed stepped over to the cabinet and took out a clear package with yellow balls inside. “A universal vitamin complex. There's also food concentrate and energy capsules. We can last on them for some time.”
They quickly swallowed the capsules, washing them down with the remains of the water in the flask and put the rest into a bag which Ahmed had thoughtfully taken out of the same cabinet.
“Turn the light on to full power,” Maya asked him.
“You shouldn't,” Rick shook his head. “As you constantly insist yourself, energy is a valuable resource. It would be better for you to listen to another story.”
He gave a general account of his meeting with the strange dwarf and about his warning.
“Those are all mutations,” Maya explained. “This happens because of the release of radiation. The Big Boom. Hmm, he was probably talking about the accident at the station. If that's so, we shouldn't go there. Even after many years, there may be high background radiation and we will get radiation sickness. It seems that your little friend was telling the truth—plants and animals have extreme reactions to such processes and also mutate. That means anything might await us below.”
“Or nothing.”
All three went quiet. Everyone was thinking of something of their own.
“So what is our decision?” Rick asked, “Up, or down?”
His directness seemed to put the agents of the Order aback.
“There are too few of us,” Maya began, “and what can we do? The best thing to do would be come home, tell them about everything we saw here and send out a new unit with people who are better prepared.”
“You are right,” Ahmed nodded.
Rick kept looking at them.
“You're leaving something out. You shouldn't be afraid of me. We're in one room now.”
“The problem isn't you,” Ahmed scratched the back of his head shyly.
“Are you afraid of what is below? Me too. But that's no reason. Bridges are made to cross chasms, not to stand at the edge.”
“We just don't know what to do when we find this generator. Reiner constantly talked about some sort of safety key, but refused to say what it was for, because he had responsibilities before the Council.”
“Great. Now there is no Reiner, and no key of his,” Rick stated. “Did the Council predict such a turn of events?”
No one contradicted him, but Rick was not trying to humiliate them.
And then Maya exploded, “I can't do this anymore! No need to hide, Ahmed. Let's tell him.”
“Whatever you want.”
“We are rebels!”
“Well, well. Now this, is interesting,” Rick crossed his arms across his chest.
“Reiner was our teacher. He is the author of the Babylon theory. He had spent a long time looking for like-minded people and gradually gathered students into his ranks that had a sufficiently open and flexible mind to accept his version of the structure of the world as truth. He wanted to test it in practice, and when the generator charge reached a critical level, made himself indispensable to the Council. He was included in the expedition, as well as us upon his request. He didn't just want to find the main generator—he also wanted to reach the edge of the universe, and look beyond that edge.”
Maya said all of this in one breath, and the relief on her face was so palpable that it seemed that the rest of the destiny of the rebel girl had depended on this moment.
“And what is Babylon about?”
“There is a legend,” Ahmed replied. “It's more ancient than anything. The legend states that humans used to live on the surface of a really large level. Just one level, can you imagine that? They crawled around here and there like cockroaches. So, once upon a time, they decided to create a world with many levels. They started building it and it took a long time. They called this building “Babylon”. But they never finished it. Well, Reiner thought that this wasn't a legend, and we all live inside this building and there's a huge and far extending surface outside.”
“I see. So they finished building it.”
“It looks like it. If we manage to prove this theory, those that follow dogma will be defeated. We will then take charge and put forth our conditions. We don't like the way they rule.”
“And what if you lose?”
“Then, such is life.”
Rick cheered up.
“I committed a crime, so there's a heavy punishment awaiting me at home. You are also blowing up the foundations of your society. We're all just a bunch of suicidal rebels!”
Maya snorted and started gathering medicines, instruments and bandages from the shelves.
“Why are you standing around? We're going on another walk.”
So they started to help her. They found and put everything they would need for the road in the bag—a coil of cable, a set of instruments, medicines and a supply of water. Then, Maya took certain injectors with yellow markers and injected each of them with a portion of medicine.
“Against radiation,” she explained.
“Excellent,” Rick replied. “That means we have decided—we are going down.”
“We will at least find the generator and examine it. Get that thing over there—it's a radiation detector, it is going to start buzzing or clicking when the background radiation will suddenly get too high.”
They left the medical block and decided to continue using side paths, through the stairways going down from the large circular corridor.
“What did you see between your sector and Omicron?” Rick asked.
“Two sectors were closed. The third was open, but abandoned. Some sort of white creatures were running around there. We were moving as carefully as we could, but our group seemed to be cursed. One had his throat torn out by a white bloodsucker. Another fell to his death down the chasm. The
third just disappeared—he probably got lost. Two of the others had an argument and nearly killed each other, while the other one closed off inside himself. I won't tell you their names, because they will tell you nothing. The name of someone you don't know is an empty word. The lower we descended, the harder it was to move. The walls just seemed to close in on us. I could not sleep normally anymore, even when we locked ourselves in rooms for which we had access codes. I always felt as if someone was watching us. I have that feeling now. I have goosebumps running down my back.”
They reached the place were the temple of the Machine God would be in the Omicron sector.
“Let's have a look,” Ahmed said.
Rick hesitated for a second, but still entered.
The room was filled with floor to ceiling with Machine God altar stands, a place for great sacrifices. Then Rick remembered that this was untrue and there was nothing supernatural about them.
“The operations room,” Maya commented, “a control nexus. Do you have one too?”
“Yes, but it is forbidden for common people to enter,”
“I see you have a good setup. Let me explain something to you then.”
She started to show him every button, level and panel, explaining their purpose. Rick did not understand much of course, but the main thing was knowledge: the girl knew machines. That meant that in time, he would know them too. Once he knows them, he can control them.
“This is a temperature monitor. It shows the state of the heat distribution network. Here it shows the voltage of the internal power network. See, everything is black. It is switched off. We can turn on the local generator if its batteries have not been drained by those that lived here.”
“And there will be light and heat everywhere?”
“That's right.”
“Then we can stay and live here in complete peace of mind.”
“I have thought of this too.”
Rick and Maya stood by the controls, trying to get used to this new idea.
“No. We can't do it,” Rick finally countered. “There are too few of us. This is a dead end.”
“I also arrived at that thought,” Maya smiled, as Ahmed nodded with approval, “but the limited resources also need to be taken into account. A sector generator is not eternal. A problem will arise in the future.”
Rick noted that her earlier grim resolve was put on.
“We need a source of renewable energy,” Ahmed replied.
“So many interesting words,” Rick noted.
“It's fine, you'll get used to it,” Ahmed looked through a cabinet at the far end of the room. “Aha! Just what we need! Now we've got good torches.”
“You're an engineer. Does that mean you deal with the sewer system and water supply?” Rick asked with interest.
“Partly. I also study all of the com-mu-ni-cations—I mean all the cables, pipes and wires that go through the sector. You can't imagine how many of them there are in the walls. The Expanse is practically crammed with them.”
They left the operations room.
“The ancient builders had planned for everything. Every mechanism has a safeguard. If there is an accident, the automatic systems turn on. Any part and any wire is universal. It can be easily disconnected and reconnected in a new place. This world is like a big construction set. Look at the wall. What do you see?”
Rick obediently looked at the wall of the corridor they were walking through.
“It's just a wall. There are signs and doors. There is the ventilation and some cabling under the ceiling.”
“You surprise me. And what about the oval cavities and handrails, over here and over there? See, they repeat in a certain pattern. Pay attention to this line here. This is a seam that connects blocks to each other. See how it goes along at the level of your chest? Look, here it crosses with a vertical seam. Look at these frosted glass inserts. These rectangles here. Do you know what they are?”
“No,” Rick admitted.
“I haven't found out either, yet. But none of these things are random, and they all have a purpose of their own.”
“I see. And what about you Maya, do you work on the farm? It's not easy.”
“What, do you think I crawl around the vegetable patches from dusk till dawn? We've got special machines called auto-robots to do that.”
“What is it you do then,” asked Rick incredulously.
“I breed new species of plant.”
“Ugh...” Rick shook his head, “I'd never have thought...”
“Our biologist caste constantly works on the issue of creating plants that would require little light, but would still be tasty, hardy and cold resistant.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Of course. But it's a difficult task. We have only managed to solve one or two problems. We either get weeds, like this creeper over here, or we get tasty types that are too sensitive. Some of us also work on animals—hamsters, rats, chickens and pigs.”
“What's a pig?”
“Haven't you seen a pig? If that warty freak went on all-fours and squealed he would look a lot like a close relative. Pigs can be eaten, but they require a lot of feeding. We don't have many of them, and we only eat them twice a year during great celebrations.”
The three of them were moving along the circular corridor and quietly conversing amongst themselves. Ahmed was holding the radiation detector. The air was cloyingly humid, liquid was constantly dripping from the ceiling and the walls were covered with a layer of slime that exuded a thick and sickening smell.
“Do you think this all appeared by itself?” Maya pointed at some greenish gray growths, “These are overgrown plantations, and there are some hydroponics nearby. Our ancestors knew how to grow whatever they wanted. Did you know that plants create air as well as being food? That is called oxygen synthesis. The plantation system was so well thought through that no one ever starved. The sectors were supplied with food.”
“And not only that,” Ahmed added, “every sector received heat, light and energy for their machinery. There was a cycle of matter in this world. Our scientists also insist that there is a communication system, which people could use to communicate at any distance, through many walls and over many levels. It is switched off now. There were many wonders in ancient times, and we don't even know a tenth of them.”
“We had communication in the Commune, but only the senior patrolmen had it,” Rick chimed in, “the Ether Voice is what we called it...”
Maya and Ahmed exchanged glances, but stayed quiet.
The corridor led them to a large spiral staircase, which was overgrown with creepers. They slowly started to descend, carefully examining every step. The counter in Ahmed's hands started to emit weak clicking sounds. The walls gradually hid under a thick carpet of creepers and the steps were covered with a layer of soil. It was as if they were stepping into a labyrinth of plants. Nature ruled here. By the time they reached the bottom floor of the sector, the floor, ceiling and walls were thickly layered with a reddish green layer of plants. The radiation detector emitted a steady stream of clicks.
“We need to determine the source of the radiation,” Ahmed said, “let's go along the radial corridor from the beginning to the end.”
Rick and Maya agreed. The time for talking was over—now they silently studied their surroundings in the world below.
“There's light ahead,” Rick noticed.
“Let's see what it is.”
The corridor was becoming lighter as they approached the center of the world. They had to tear through thick lianas to get through to an open space by the entrance to the balcony of the main well. Light was pouring in from below. The next sector was fully illuminated. They came close to the edge of the platform and saw that the sector floors around the Chorda flickered with a diffused white light. Rick thought that it would fall into darkness lower down, but distant lights could be seen glinting far below.
The Underworld turned out to be a place of light.
Ahme
d passed his detector over the precipice. The clicking was not as fast as at the bottom of the staircase.
“The source is at the edge,” Ahmed looked puzzled, “and the radiation is too weak. I was expecting the detector to tear itself to pieces.”
“Is that good or not?” Rick asked.
He could not understand them—these people from up above behaved strangely, seeming concerned when they should have been happy.
“Yes, that's good.”
Rick approached the spiral staircase and almost fell down below. The stairwells were disconnected. Maya took the cable from Ahmed, skilfully tied it around herself and moved Rick aside.
“Look out for me!”
Before he had a chance to say a word, the girl jumped. She softly landed on the organic layer and immediately got into a defensive stance. Rick and Ahmed descended after her. They spent a while examining the balcony and walls of the next sector. The outlines they were used to seemed unusual and strangely shaped when the even white light of ceiling lights working at full power fell on them. The light had a greenish, diffused aspect to it because the lights were covered by greenery. It was rather painful to look at.
“Whoever lived here, they definitely had no problems with a power source.”
“Energy is life,” Maya said. “This sector is habitable. We must be ready for anything.”
They started to descend using the large spiral staircase of the main well. The greenery covering every surface was succulently green, with fat stems and thick leaves. Multicolored flowers bloomed and spread a tangy smell. Rick sneezed. His eyes started to water. This sector had a somewhat different design to the two previous ones. There were no rooms, and each floor had high walls that extended over two or more levels. It soon became obvious why—he saw that behind the transparent thick walls, there were tall plants with long and thick stems reaching as far as the ceiling, with a crown of leaves at the top.
“Trees,” Maya explained, sounding just as surprised. “I thought they don't exist anymore.”
They were looking around, and all they could see were masses of greenery that had filled all the levels of the sector. This was a real jungle. A collection of wild, untended plants, that had overgrown and taken over the surrounding space. The glass could not resist the pressure in some places, and the leaf-covered branches had broken out, trying to grab on to emptiness. It was hard to breath. This was not just because of the thick smell of flowers, but also the intoxicating air that filled their chests and tickled their nostrils. They passed the ten upper floors of the sector, and the growth became increasingly thick, making it even harder to move on ahead. They were no longer going down the stairs, but stepping over interwoven roots as thick as a human leg. Something was constantly clicking and crunching, as if it was imitating Ahmed's detector. Dried branches and fruits fell from above. The leaves seemed to quietly rustle by themselves, making them feel uneasy. However, Rick guessed that it must have been the incoming streams of warm air that were moving the surrounding plants. It was much warmer here, so much so that his overalls were drenched with sweat and he had to constantly wipe his face.
