Höllenbadt: Book two of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  “I’m a pilot. Why do you want to know?”

  “We saw you fly in. Why did you come to Saskatoon?”

  “To escape.”

  “Escape hey. Well, what were you escaping from, the Agent?” The other people with the man broke into a short laughter until John answered.

  “We did in fact, where else do you think we were able to get this jet?”

  “From the authorities. You’re not the authorities are you?”

  “No. But they might come visiting here soon.”

  “Well we don’t want them here. They abandoned people long ago. They don’t care what happens to people.”

  “That is true.”

  “We don’t have viruses. We are clean.”

  “So are we.”

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Enough.”

  “What do you mean enough?”

  “Just enough.” John thought the group were casing them out to see how many they might be up against.

  “Look. We are not after any trouble. We are clean as I said. Survival here is tough though. We thought you might be able to help us.”

  “Why would we do that?”

  “Um, because we are not a threat. We just want some food or anything to help. This weather is bad and the food is running out. We want to get out of here.”

  “We can’t help you with either of those. We only have enough food for ourselves.”

  The leading man then walked towards John, leaving the others behind. As he approached, John felt strangely at ease and although he held his rifle in position, he did not become edgy and ready to fire.

  “Stop there. Don’t come closer. Who are you?”

  ‘We’re a group of travellers. We thought about going around the fence. Look, we only want to go to the eastern sector and get away from the Agent.”

  “You won’t have to worry about him too much for a while.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s just say, we gave him a setback.”

  “Well, that’s a relief. Please don’t fire. We are just travellers. A few weeks back, we came through the mountains east of San Francisco, heading for Omaha, but there were some real bad people in our way, so we came up here into Canada.”

  “Yeah. Well, as I said, I cannot help you.”

  The man began to approach again and was within thirty yards of where John and Tobias stood. When he reached the light coming from within the hanger, John was surprised to recognise him as one of the group he and Carmel had travelled with. Immediately he lowered his rifle, “I know you. We were travelling together through the forest.”

  “Yeah. Is that you John?”

  “Sure is.”

  “The man turned to the group behind him and called out, “Steve! Steve, it’s John.”

  “John? Where’s Carmel?”

  “She’s back near the jet. Come here out of the weather – all of you.”

  The others joined Steve as he ran the one hundred yards into the hanger. “Mate, it is so good to see you,” Steve said shaking John’s hand.

  “Good to see you as well. Why did you come up here?”

  “Like he said, there are a lot of bad people at the main transit. It seems as though some type of movement was on. We saw at least two to three hundred.”

  “Where are the rest of you?”

  “The Agent shot two men on horseback and we lost four others to those infected groups. It was gruesome…”

  “Don’t tell me about it. I’ve seen and heard enough on that. Well, come in all of you. We have a bit of food, but it is no feast.”

  “Thanks. So you stole this jet from the Agent?”

  “Yeah. Hey Tobias, go and tell Carmel it is Steve.” Tobias ran off and then returned a few moments later with Carmel and Kerry Ann.

  “Hi Carmel. Where is that little steam engine of yours?”

  “Inside Steve. How good to see you. All of us should go inside the jet, it is much warmer there.”

  “How long are you going to park this thing here?” Steve asked John as the entire group sat together at the front of the HyperJet.

  “As soon as the weather clears, I’ll take her up again. The authorities will have tracked us for a while before we landed. Keeping on the run is our best option, so when the snow stops, we are going.”

  “Can we all come with you?”

  “Sure. But what about your horses.”

  Steve looked downcast and when John looked around the group, he could see they all appeared the same. He was able to guess they had eaten them to survive.

  “Frieda is here. She is up the back.”

  “A horse on a HyperJet, now that is new.”

  “Have you seen many others here about Saskatoon?”

  “Only a few. Some like us, and some of those with the holes. I reckon we’ve seen around fifty or sixty in all, but there must be others around. We asked those who were not infected if they wanted to come with us, but they were not interested and just said they would stay here and do what they could.”

  “Well that’s good in a way. We could be pretty safe here for a while, hey John.”

  “Yeah, but remember, we still have to think about the authorities Tobias, so keep that ray gun ready.”

  Tobias laughed and took the gun out, “A few bolts from this might make them think twice.”

  Later after all the others had retired to sleeping in the passenger chairs inside the aircraft, John, Tobias, and Steve were talking about tactics the authorities might use to find them. John had considered setting up a scanner device for detection, but then had decided against it given the risk of the scanner showing up on military sensors.

  “They’ll be looking for this jet using fairly wide spectrum analysis, so we will have to leave tomorrow.”

  The morning dawned very cold with icicles hanging from the hanger roof and the jet. Everyone from the newly arrived group was out clearing snow from the runway, with a few taking to de-icing the jet. When they had cleared three narrow tracks along its entire length, John was satisfied there would be enough traction for takeoff without any further delay.

  “Everyone ready?” he asked as he lined the jet up at the end of the runway. Three seconds later, he engaged full thrust and they headed into the steely blue sky. “Um, this is John, your captain speaking. We will be flying at approximately forty thousand feet today at mach two, on a heading towards somewhere warm. I like you, am sick of this cold and think it is time we all thawed out.”

  They had not decided precisely where to go, but all had generally agreed they should head towards South America and re-locate a long way from the authorities in the United States, and from the Agent. John’s address shortly after takeoff did a lot to lighten the mood amongst all on board, even those who were beginning their recovery. He had engaged his stealth device prior to leaving Saskatoon, which caused some confusion for the military aircraft who were searching for the rogue HyperJet.

  They had been in a wide formation flying over Calgary, when suddenly, three separate readings appeared on their scanners – each of them showing a heading in all directions except for the actual direction the jet was taking. All three pilots boosted their signal receivers and scanning output parameters, and they could all see the same readings confirming it was the HyperJet. Then they engaged a new scanner to determine the actual position of the jet and not just a dummy signal as had been experienced years before when John had escaped Alaska. To fool them once again, John had reconfigured his stealth like device a little the night before using flux mechanics, enabling it to project readouts showing their pursuers they each had a HyperJet yet flying in different directions. Flux mechanics still had the upper hand when it came to the leading edge in technological capacity, so the group effectively left the military far behind and still guessing.

  Eric Gunter had been watching the pursuit since the few hours had passed by when he had arrived at work that day. He had been instructed to monitor the situation involving the newly upgraded sc
anning capacity they had just tried and failed with for locating the jet John was piloting. He was not impressed, as he knew reporting this failure to his superiors was not going to be a welcoming experience. They were demanding results they considered necessary for re-establishing sufficient strength in defeating the Agent, and whilst this was not Eric’s fault, it could make life for him difficult for a time, despite the impartiality of his nano mechanics.

  Little did he or the authorities know, how disabled the Agent had become since John had destroyed his vortex amplifier. It would take him at least a month to build another, and then it would not have the Torus of Eternity at its centre, so it would be a weak device, capable of only small intrusions into the eastern sector.

  The Agent had set about building himself a new amplifier, despite his mania and despite his losses. Such as it was in his maniacal state, a vortex amplifier was an instrument representing his self, and soon he would fly his spaceship and take a new one with him so he could still spread his mania far and wide.

  Eric thought for a moment, as he was keen to establish some type of inroad into the situation before having to report this mission failure. He instructed the pilots to take a southerly heading and scan the skies until they could no longer or until they had further progress to report. It would prove a futile measure though, as John had taken the aircraft beyond the reach of what the military pilots could do using sight and by chance, happening on any type of readout providing them with a lead. Fortunately for the escapees, any energy trail signature was dispersed as John’s device had programmed it to do so.

  The group were flying over Mexico just over an hour later, leaving their pursuers far behind. Eric still had no solid lead as to the destination of those they were chasing, and thus he was resigned to reporting the situation to his superiors as it stood.

  Chapter 25

  The city of Arequipa located on the Pacific side of the Andes Mountains in Peru, was a place the travellers discovered, had been relatively unaffected by the Agent. Local inhabitants were subject mostly to the whims of the authorities in Peru, with very few having ever taken up the offer of injected nano technology to maintain healthy lives. Known as the city of eternal blue skies, Arequipans enjoyed a clean life, free of the drawbacks from the larger cities, and with the city at an altitude of two thousand meters, many lived long and unhindered existences.

  They were even welcomed by a number of highly spirited people after they had touched down at the airport, roughly twelve miles from the city centre. Without the ardent rules of compliance from the authorities regulating the city, they did not even encounter any officials demanding information. When they did approach international passport control, they were given passage without so much as a check of their documentation, which most of them did not have anyway. The authorities of Peru were like many other nations across the globe, where they focused on maintaining a level of control in battle against the Agent’s viruses regularly affecting their technology systems. With the authorities being mostly absent from this city, it worked well for the travellers.

  John had parked the jet in the mostly vacant hanger beside one other HyperJet that appeared to have been there for a considerable time. The officer in charge advised them they could leave the jet there as long as they made regular payments, so John gave him enough cash to last at least one year of fees. The officer was more than pleased to receive this from John by remarking, “You are most gracious. My superior will be very pleased to receive such a large amount of cash. It will look like he is running a very efficient office here at Arequipa, and that will please his superiors.”

  “You are most welcome. My HyperJet is my prize possession. Please take good care of it for me.”

  “Certainly sir, I would be very happy to assist you in any way I can.”

  “Thank you and here…take this extra cash for yourself and your family. Times have been tough and I am sure it will help you.”

  “Indeed it will, and thank you for your kindness.”

  “I have a feeling we will be here for a considerable time John,” Carmel said as they walked towards the rest of the travellers who were gathered outside a hotel across from the airport terminal.

  “I think so Carmel. It was a good decision to come here. I am sick of running – it has been for so long now. This city is a long way from the Agent, and the United States authorities will have to search far and wide to find us here. Also, the others need some time and space to recuperate. Some of this clear mountain air and these warmer temperatures will help their recovery.”

  “And ours John. The running has taken a toll. It is time we started to live again. One thing though, will they be able to track us somehow to here at Arequipa? I know the device you used will have fooled their scanners, but there are the authorities of other nations and people who would have seen us arrive.”

  “That is certainly worth considering, and it is a tangible reality, but I think they will still be counteracting the Agent, and so we have to hope there is not some planned objective to find us. Maybe I should have not made such a high cash payment.”

  “Don’t be concerned about the cash John, as these places are different from those in the north and in other parts, but we need to remember the authorities. They still want you. Even after all these years, you are the only one who can give them true flux mechanics. They will come after you…even if it takes them a long time.”

  “Yeah, it had crossed my mind. But I think we should find some type of residence here for a while and see if we can live in a bit of peace. The others need to recover and I think that will take a few months. They have been almost at deaths’ door for years…”

  “The Agent is a miser John. He thrives on depravity. But I think you are right and that we can stay here. It will be much better for us in the long term, if we can settle and focus ourselves for some time.”

  “We are fortunate the authorities here are relatively lax. No passport control, no questions about the jet, and not so much as a reason for our being here.”

  “They are spirited the people from these parts John. I could sense their type of living and approach to life as soon as we arrived. It is just we have been misfortunate to have been in places for many years where control is much stronger, but I also get the feeling that this place was once not unlike others where the authorities were dominant. Perhaps now with the troubles caused by the Agent, they have allowed the people to return more to their true selves?”

  “I think you are right Carmel. I can sense what you speak of as well. It is as if there is a calm air about the place, and the fear factor is far lower.”

  “Indeed John, there is much less fear. In time, the ‘air’ as you say, will also allow us the clarity we require to push on with our understanding. We have much work to do John, and now we are in a place allowing us to focus, I feel we are going to make some great progress.”

  “I think Chan would feel similar to how you speak. I caught a twinkle in his eye when he disembarked and looked around. It was as if he sensed it as well.”

  As the group wandered through the centre of the city, they began to realise many of its inhabitants were living mostly free from technology. Very few of the establishments open for trading featured the arrays of holographic entertainment and broadcasts seen in northern hemisphere cities. People on the streets were engaged in life similarly to they had for over a century, with some as traders of foodstuffs and other life essentials. Performers and artists were portraying life through street dances and art, whilst the remainder looked to be going to and from work at the central district. Arequipa lacked the high-rise seen in many other places, where instead, there was a collection of tall buildings and apartments that had been modernised over the recent decades.

  Jenna came to life a little when the group found themselves in San Francisco Street with its bars, restaurants, and clubs. Whilst most were only trading at a limited capacity, and some were closed to business, there was a definite feeling to the area that reminded her of her
home thousands of miles to the north.

  Chan noticed her mood enhancement, and so asked John if they could all go inside for a rest and to discuss what they were going to do, and where they were going to stay. He considered it an opportunity for Jenna and the others to rekindle some of the worldly spirit that had been suppressed where they could draw upon elements of stimuli to further their awakening. John agreed, as did Carmel, who had been a little concerned over what they were all going to do and how they were going to accommodate Frieda. Tobias had been leading her using a bridle with Carmel’s engine strapped on her back, “Go in and ask if I can tie her up at the back. I saw a lane and a yard behind. Perhaps they won’t mind.”

  John went inside and then returned a minute later with good news. Tobias could take her around the back, as there was a yard and a small shed where she could stay whilst they were inside. “But only if we order a meal and some drinks, the owner told me.”

  Inside they all talked earnestly about what they could do next, over a meal of potato cakes and cheeses.

  “We need to find somewhere to accommodate all of us if we want to stay together,” one of the travellers they reconnected with in Saskatoon said. “Otherwise, we will have to split up and find smaller establishments.”

  “I’m sure there will be enough room for us. Don’t worry, they are likely to need the cash,” Kerry Ann replied.

  “We don’t have any. Only John has cash.”

  “Don’t worry as I have enough to pay for all of us. But, such a large group draws attention. They are not likely to see large travelling hordes in single groups these days. I think we need to find somewhere out of the main city. A rural place would be ideal. Then we can stay free of the bustle of the city and out of sight should anyone be looking around or asking questions.”

  “I don’t agree. You can go to the farmlands if you want. They look a bit desolate to me. Did you see the desert to the east of this place? I cannot imagine they are too plentiful. I would rather stay in the city and blend in. Who is with me?”