by James Huff
“Hello there Mr. Crawling, may I call you John?” Mr. Thomas looked at me with genuine care in his eyes, though of course I doubted his intentions. He had medium length, straight brown hair and brown eyes and was rather short in stature for a man of his age. He appeared to be in his mid to late 30’s. I merely looked blankly back at him and said nothing. “Well John, I am sure we will get along just fine. In the mean time I want you to get back with your family.” I still looked blankly at Mr. Thomas after his little chat. Both men turned and looked at one another, nodded, and then Mr. Karren turned toward me to say something.”Mr. Crawling, there has been an order sent to us from the Alphae for an interview between you and your parents and our god. It is mandatory that you set this up before the Induction Ceremony in which you will be sent into Institution,” Mr. Karren informed me. “Do you have any questions for us John,” asked Mr. Thomas. “No,” I replied. “I just want to go home.”
Chapter 2:
The two men then escorted me up to the exit where I was blindfolded and led into some kind of vehicle. After what seemed like an eternity, the blindfold was removed and I found myself outside the walls of Institution where I had been found. My parents were already there waiting for me. Mother approached me first, with her solemn yet stern expression. “Well son, how do you feel now? Remember we are only trying to help you. We love and care about your well being…” She could tell I wasn’t paying attention as I just stood there staring blankly with a look of apathetic rage, if there were such a thing. Father chimed in. “Today is the last day of the retreat, which will commence with the Rite of the Cosmic Master, the Alphae. Your mother and I are so excited and feel this may be a real treat for someone of your tastes son.” “What makes you think that I would enjoy another Alphaean ceremony Father?” I butted in rudely. “You will attend son, and you will enjoy it. Your class of Institution will be inducted first thing next week,” Mother informed me. “And now,” she continued, “we must immediately take you to the Family Shrine to have a little family chat with our supreme god.”
It became apparent from my parents’ incessant pleading that obeying them, at least for now, was probably my best, if not only option. And so I conceded. “Very well Mother…Father…we shall go.” I faked a smile toward them both and walked on ahead of them even though I didn’t really know where I was going. Father stepped ahead of me and led the way. Mother stayed by my side and reached for my hand. I recoiled back instinctively and she returned my reaction with a glare like a knife to my chest. “My son,” she insisted, “do you not know that I love you…and more so, do you not know he who loves you more than your feeble human mind can even begin to fathom?” I decided that it may be more entertaining at this point for me to just play along. And so I did, trying my best to hide my blatant sarcasm. “Yes Mother…the Alphae, our sovereign lord and god, loves each and every one of us equally and with equal measure. And he punishes the disloyal miscreants with his rod of justice and vengeance!” I suppose my sarcasm was a bit too obvious. “Oh John…what are we going to do with you?” She looked at me hopefully, but within that stare I could see a look of genuine concern. Honestly my parents were so enamored by the Alphae and his grand spectacles that they reacted emotionally with a certain sense of hypnotic awe.
By now we had already walked a block past the building of Institution and were heading in the direction opposite of the Alphae’s palace. We turned on a side street which led to a set of stairs, leading downward onto the train platform. You see there are many train stations within the city of Metropolis. There are the main pneumatic tubes or lines, and then there are other, smaller units that can take one into the sometimes less travelled areas of Metropolis. Our destination was in one of these areas. As Mr. Karren detailed in his story, it is not exactly rare for there to be dissenting children, but it is not exactly common either. Therefore, there is a purpose to the Family Shrines, even if they are not used quite as frequently as the other places of worship.
As I descended down the flight of stairs I remembered when Grandfather and I used to walk together into the train stations. I remembered how sometimes I would run down the stairs, skipping steps along the way, and find myself alone, awaiting the old man’s slow descent. He was always good humored about my hyperactivity. He would just laugh and tell me some kind of outrageous joke that would have me in tears, but would enrage my parents. I liked that we could be so open with each other and never have to fear either of us getting upset or judging the other. Maybe that is why I had grown to see Metropolis as more of my personal playground and less of a city. With a wild imagination, I could concoct my own kingdoms that may not be on par with the Alphae, but it sure would give him some competition! Or so I thought…
This time I was not so excited and actually tagged behind my Mother with reluctance. She sensed my hesitancy and quickly dashed up a few stairs, grabbed my arm with the force of a grown man, and dragged me to the platform. The train arrived a few moments later. It was smaller, as I said, than the main lines and probably seated roughly 50 to 75 passengers. We entered and I took a seat toward the back, hoping my parents would not follow me. Of course they did. I looked up dreamily at the calling monitor above. The screen was cracked, causing the public service holograms to display various glitches. It was actually kind of amusing in its own boring way. The speakers were obviously in need of service, and the entire cabin smelled musty and old, with cobwebs in the windows and corners and dust everywhere. I was beginning to wonder if Mr. Karren was lying to me. It would appear to me that this train hadn’t been used in decades and it only had one destination: the Family Shrine in West Quarter. No wonder though really. Every time I had to go to West Quarter I would notice that it was poorly maintained. I honestly had no idea why my parents insisted on that Shrine, when there were two others in other Quadrants. Grandfather used to tell me that many of the riots that took place in the uprising occurred in West Quarter Metropolis and that it had been run down ever since. Well, that must have been a while, because it was his grandfather he got the story from and the riots took place well before his time as well. This city that I had called my home must have been quite old. Still, how old exactly it is, I have always questioned. For I had never truly trusted the Alphae; and the Ritual of Atonement was no exception to my skeptical mind.
As we whizzed by the city, I gazed out of the window and pondered the dreary sense of beauty I beheld, as if it could somehow be perceived in that light. Grandfather used to always tell me that beauty was in the eye of the beholder. His wife was never the most attractive woman in the world. She had very plain features and was very modest, a quiet lady who mostly kept to herself. Grandfather had kept many secrets from her. She died about ten years before I was born and surprisingly Grandfather rarely spoke of her unless he was using it as a tool to teach me about beauty. I stared out of the window and imagined what it would be like if the Alphae just gave me the entire West Quarter to do with as I pleased. I could have made it just like Vaena, I thought briefly. But of course, as soon as my mind began to swim in the sea of imagination, I was once again interrupted. “Warning! There has been damage to the line in sector 32. Initiating emergency halting protocols.” “Poomph!” All of the luggage compartments above our seats came out and various safety paraphernalia dropped down in front of us. There were some miniature plasmic flashlights, green and yellow neon vests, and a couple of flares in each pack. Just great. Now we were stuck somewhere halfway to our destination, not even knowing what was beyond the pneumatic tube line.
Mother started to seriously lose her composure. “Oh my! What are we going to do? We have to see the Alphae before the ceremony tonight! We cannot disgrace him in any manner. No, no no…” “There, there darling,” Father consoled her, “I am sure we can safely leave the line and access a Drone Transporter, since this is an emergency.” You see…normally the only ones authorized to use any kind of vehicle (aside from the pneumatic trains) were the drones and the facilitators…people like Mr. Karren. Average cit
izens were strictly forbidden to use any other form of transport unless it was a serious emergency. Well, according to the authorities, when it came to intervening upon a dissenter such as myself, that was a top priority. And of course, it was also of vital importance for us to make it to the ceremony that night at the retreat.
The train halted suddenly, causing all three of us to lunge forward into the seats in front of us, roughly hitting our heads. Mother was freaking out. She started bowing frantically, praying to the Alphae in strange mumbled chants. Father wasn’t much better. He started twitching and twiddling his fingers and thumbs, lazily chanting the call of the Alphae, as if that would actually resolve the dilemma. I alone remained calm. There was an emergency exit door in the next row over. Without hesitation, and without saying a word to my parents, I nonchalantly approached the exit and reached for the red and yellow lever. I placed my hand on the lever, feeling its cool, rubber-insulated steel design. I tried to pull it to the left and it would not budge. My face grew red and I started perspiring as I tried to force the obviously rusty lever down so that we could get out of that god forsaken train. But try as I might, it wouldn’t budge. I thought of calling Father over, but he was still panicking with Mother and, besides, he really was not very strong himself.
“Hey! Can you two gather your wits and come over here and help me with this lever so we can go…” I didn’t want to ask for their help, but what choice did I have? Mother was still lost in the sea of fanatic prayer, but Father seemed to be regaining his composure. He walked over to the door and examined it. “Well son, it appears to me that this thing is rusted all to hell, maybe we can…” I cut him off. “Of course I can see that Father. Why do you think I asked for help?” He did not like my irritated retort. I was angry and so I continued my little rant. “What good do you and Mother think it will do to just kneel there praying and chanting fanatically? You seriously look insane. Don’t you see that?” Surprisingly my father did not react to my rude attitudes and blatant mockery of the Alphae. He just shrugged and looked under the seat. A few seconds later he rose back up with a crow bar in his hand. “How on Earth did that get there?” I questioned. “Beats me,” Father answered, “perhaps it was left by one of the rioters.” “I doubt that. That was ages ago.” I just stood there while Father banged the crow bar up against the lever but it was no use. It simply would not budge.
Suddenly we all three jumped after hearing a loud bang on the side of the train, near the main door. Then this loud, terrible screech was heard as the doors were being pried open by something. After what felt like hours, the screeching stopped and a maintenance drone hovered in. These were bigger than the surveillance drones that I was used to seeing. Their bodies were shaped almost like upside down pyramids, the apex of which glowed with the plasma that propelled their hovering motions. The main part of their body had a rust color with pine green highlights that glinted in the dim fluorescent lights above us. The head was much smaller compared to the body and was ovular with a silvery blue sheen.
“Citizens, if you follow me I will guide you to my maintenance pod and transport you to the nearest safe exit.” My parents already began to walk toward the drone, but I was the one who had to question it. “Where are we exactly? I mean we could be anywhere. We could be 300 feet in the air for all we know.” The drone hovered there for a moment, seeming to calculate a response. “Your present elevation is 120 feet. The nearest exit before the damaged line is 700 feet. There the elevation is lower, at 100 feet. You and your fellow citizens may then descend the maintenance ladder.” My stomach churned as I thought of descending down a rickety ladder with my parents at 100 feet, but what choice did we have? I certainly wished we had chosen to go to another Quadrant. At this point I never wanted to go to West Quarter again.
We proceeded to follow the drone out of the door. There was a rather steep drop from the train onto the surface of the tube. There were narrow maintenance lines there that looked different than anything I had ever seen before. They had actual metallic rails on them, and as I looked further ahead, I could see the maintenance pod that had what looked like round wheels connected to the lines. Suddenly I remembered Grandfather’s stories he would tell me about what he called the lines of old. I was surprised to see them in Metropolis though, even in the middle of an out dated pneumatic line. I suppose that even the Alphae had to invent some kind of back-up system.
The pod was small, but all that was needed. There were three small ovular platforms that we could each sit upon and the drone mounted the front of the craft, where his pyramidal shape locked into some kind of harness. It seemed to program the drone to operate the pod. It took off with a start and was by far the bumpiest and most nauseating ride I had ever been on. At least it was enough to calm Mother and Father down from their previous meltdown. Instead of their manic hysteria, a green color came over their faces and their heads seemed to sway in circles. Finally we arrived at the exit and as we exited the pods, Mother vomited all over the surface of the tube. It wasn’t long after that, that my Father lurched as well. I didn’t feel sick anymore and tried my hardest not to burst out laughing, but I managed to hold it in. Still, Mother must have seen me snickering, for she threw me a vile look, her eyes like fire.
The drone signaled for us to follow it to the edge of the tube where there was a narrow iron door. Out of the middle of the drone’s body, a compartment opened and a robotic arm came out and attached itself to the circular opener and it was freed in seconds. A cool gust of wind whooshed into the tube and all three of us flinched. “Citizens, after your descent you will already find a drone transport waiting to take you to your intended destination. Proceed with caution and remember, that all things done be unto the glory of the Alphae”
I was the first to approach the door, as Mother and Father were still swaying a bit, obviously still nauseated. I looked down and almost fell over. I grabbed the sides of the door with a start and leaned back down to take a peak. Even though we weren’t as high as we could have been, looking down at the street below was not pleasant. I decided to get down on my knees and lean over so that I could examine the ladder. Luckily it looked fairly sturdy. The only problem I had now was to convince my parents to descend with me. I looked at Father first. “Are we going to go now or what? Obviously none of us want to descend this ladder, but what choice do we have? And like you said Mother,” I nodded in her direction, “we need to get back in time for the ceremony tonight.” They nodded in agreement and without saying a word, I simply turned around and placed my first foot on the top rung. Without hesitation I began my descent, slowly at first, but then picking up speed, careless with impatience. I got to the ground much faster than I had anticipated and looked up for Mother and Father. Father was halfway down but Mother was still on the first rung, her body still hanging partway in the door opening. Father was trying to yell up at her to come down but she was really hesitating. After what seemed like hours, she started to descend at a snail’s pace and finally was on the ground with Father and I.
The drone transport was across the street and the three of us immediately walked toward it. By this time it was already mid-afternoon and we did not have much time to get all the way back to the other side of the city. Plus, due to the damage on the pneumatic line, we would have to take a transport all the way back. But knowing the priorities of the ceremony, they would probably provide us with an air transport for that trip, which was rare these days, but sometimes necessary. We entered the transport and, after we gave the instructions of our destination, it took off with a start.
On the way I dreamily looked out of the window to the dreary streets outside. West Quarter was like a ghost town. The few people we did spot did not look like typical citizens of the other Quadrants, especially East Quarter. They were all weathered in appearance and unkempt. But they were also so few. I wondered why the Alphae, being all powerful, could not do something to help this side of the city. Suddenly I found my doubt of his divinity growing even more in my heart.
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br /> We arrived at the entrance to the Family Shrine with a smooth stop. Mother and Father finally had their wits about them and both smiled at me. “My son, it is now time for us to bring you to your true Father. He will guide us to help you in your compliance and guide you to surrender yourself to his holy and mighty will.” Father ended his little speech with a hug, but I pulled away with disgust.
The building in front of us was surprisingly beautiful compared to the streets that surrounded us. It was similar to the walls of Institution, except that the surface of the building was covered with a subtle golden veneer. It was very tall, but appeared to only have one level. The roof was also golden and shaped like a dome with the rod of the Alphae rising up on top, in the center. The doors were wooden and stained a dark color with silver handles on them embroidered with strange designs. Mother and Father prodded me on the back, obviously wanting me to be the first to enter.
As I opened the doors, my jaw dropped. The room was huge and the ceiling rose up to at least 60 feet in height, maybe more. There were no chairs or benches or anywhere to sit. All around us were depictions of the Alphae in his various kingdoms. As I looked up on the dome ceiling I saw what appeared to be a depiction of the first prophet of the Alphae bowing before him and kissing the tip of his rod, which was adorned with the golden head of a cobra. On the walls were various individual altar stations, above which were beautiful paintings of the Alphae in his many kingdoms, standing above masses of people on their knees in worship.
