The Amber Project: A Dystopian Sci-fi Novel (The Variant Saga Book 1)

by JN Chaney

  “Where are you going now?” asked Bishop.

  “To give a final lesson to the names on that list. If we’re sending them to Hell, they deserve to know about the demons who live there.”

  Chapter 12

  Amber Project File Logs

  Play Audio File 141

  January 1, 2347

  BISHOP: I told you I was moving on this.

  ROSS: All because of the runaways?

  BISHOP: No, it was only a factor. It was going to happen soon enough, anyway.

  ROSS: Aren’t you concerned? They’re not soldiers, sir.

  BISHOP: After years of training, they sure as hell better be.

  ROSS: What does their teacher think?

  BISHOP: He’s…reluctant.

  ROSS: And you’re still going through with it?

  BISHOP: Nuber’s opinion is clouded. He’s almost as bad as those sentimental mothers.

  ROSS: Is that really so bad?

  BISHOP: Dammit, don’t you start, too.

  ROSS: Apologies, sir. But you should know the mothers are talking…someone’s let it slip about the launch.

  BISHOP: It doesn’t matter. They’ll have plenty to gossip about when all of this is over.

  ROSS: You’re expecting it to work, then?

  BISHOP: Decades of anguish for today, Ross. Decades of politics, botched science experiments, and constant public reassurances. Of course I’m expecting it to work. It has to.

  ROSS: Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to imply…

  BISHOP: It’s fine. You’ve worked as hard as I have. We should both be celebrating. Hell, I’ve already poured the scotch.

  End Audio File

  January 1, 2347

  The Academy, Central

  Terry opened his burning, sleep deprived eyes only to see Mr. Nuber standing over him.

  “Rise and shine,” said Nuber.

  John was already dressed. He shrugged when Terry looked at him.

  Terry slid out of bed and started getting dressed. The reason for the wake up didn’t matter. He’d find out soon enough. That was how it worked.

  He laced up his boots.

  “Follow me,” said his teacher, once Terry was fully clothed and ready. Together they left the dormitories and headed to the classrooms. It was a short walk, the same one they had taken every other day, but at this time of night the halls were quieter, more solemn. It was almost depressing.

  Nuber stopped at the door to their usual room. “Go in and have a seat,” he said. Terry did, with John beside him. He expected to find the rest of the class there, but instead there were only a few. Mei, Roland, and Sarah sat at their desks, bloodshot eyes on all their faces.

  “Sir,” said John, breaking the silence. “Where is everyone?”

  Mr. Nuber ignored the question. “Sit down, boys,” he said.

  John and Terry took their usual seats and waited silently for answers. “Alright then,” said Nuber. He pressed the power button on the desk and turned the equipment on. After a brief moment, the projector screen in the front of the class lit up and a map appeared. “I’m only going to cover this once, so pay attention.” He walked to the screen, examined it, and faced the small group of teenagers. “I’m sure all of you have noticed Alex and Cole have been missing from class these last few days.”

  Nobody said anything.

  “Well, they have, and they aren’t just ditching, either. They’ve run away from the city. They’re topside.”

  A few of the students shifted in their seats. Mei shot up a hand, but Nuber dismissed it with a wave, and she resigned her question. “It doesn’t matter how they did it, only that they did. We tracked their movements for a while, but now it seems they’ve fallen off the grid. They’re gone.”

  He turned and nodded to the screen beside him. “This is a map of the surface. It’s not the whole thing, obviously, but it’s the only part you need to concern yourselves with. You’ll notice it’s shaped like a circle. That’s because it only extends about a mile from the entrance of the city. See this black spot here?” He pointed to the exact center of the map. “This is the elevator connecting our city with the surface. We call it the Sling. Everything in this circle is considered part of the safe zone, but it doesn’t mean it’s actually safe.” He changed the picture. A larger map took the place of the last one. It was more or less the same, except there were a few additional structures and three red circles on the outer edges. “I’m sure you’re wondering what those red marks are. They’re the reason you need to stay inside the first map. Those are where our people have been attacked in the past.” He walked to the uppermost one and slammed his palm against it. “This is the one that took my arm. Animals, I guess you’d call them. No one knows what they are…only that they’re dangerous. If you ever start to question me, think about this.” He rolled up his sleeve and showed them all what was really underneath it.

  For the very first time, Terry saw the remnants of his teacher’s arm. It was only a stub, cut off six inches from the shoulder. The skin near the end of it was cracked, a lighter shade of color than the rest of the old man’s body.

  “This is what you get when you aren’t careful enough…when you’re arrogant, and you’ve got it in your head to do something stupid.”

  “What happened?” Roland asked.

  “My team got ambushed while we were investigating something up on the surface. It was only one animal, but it was bigger than me and twice as strong. Fast, too. It went after the others first, tackling them and ripping their suits apart like paper. We all ran, but only two of us made it all the way to the lift. My boss Matt Libby and myself. I asked him where the others were, but he shouted he didn’t know and ordered me to open the gate. I heard a growl and turned to see the monster standing over us. I gawked at it like an idiot while it attacked Libby. I ran to help, but it saw me coming and lunged at me. It knocked me around and cut me in a few places. I could hear the oxygen wheezing out of my suit even before I hit the dirt. None of it mattered to me at the time, though. I was more worried about the giant razorback trying to kill me.”

  “Razorback?” asked John.

  “It’s what we call them. Rabs for short.”

  A chill ran down Terry’s spine as he tried to imagine what a razorback would look like. It didn’t sound like anything he’d ever seen in a book or picture.

  Nuber sighed, and his eyes drifted. “Before the rab could finish me off, Libby screamed and rushed the beast, his arms raised and flailing like nothing I’d ever seen. He plowed into it, and they both fell on the dirt, tumbling away from me. Libby screamed for me to go, to get into the lift. I bear-crawled to the gate, scared shitless, closed it behind me, entered the activation code, and listened in horror as my commanding officer screamed bloody murder while the monster ripped him apart. He died in front of my eyes, his insides falling out of his belly like…noodles from a bowl.

  “By the time I got to the bottom, I’d already passed out from exposure. The toxin infected my arm and should’ve killed me, but they managed to amputate before it spread. At least, it’s the story they told me. When I woke up and saw my arm gone, I couldn’t stop screaming. It didn’t feel real.” He shook his head, blinking. “But that was from the gas. You kids don’t have to worry about it. Be thankful.”

  Right, thankful, thought Terry. As if anyone could feel grateful for any part of Nuber’s story.

  “Make no mistake,” said Nuber. “The whole damned planet’s still a deathtrap. You see one of those animals I mentioned, you run the other way, understand? Don’t get killed for no reason. You kids take off and bolt all the way back to the Sling. I don’t give a shit what your orders are. You listen to me.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Today’s the last day of class,” he said. “You won’t ever be back in this room again, but you don’t get to rest. In fifteen minutes we’re gonna leave here, and I’m gonna take you to a place with a lot of doctors and then to another wit
h a lot of soldiers. It’ll only take a few hours, but by the time it’s over, you’ll be on your way to the surface.” He stood and proceeded to shake each of their hands.

  “Congratulations,” he said. “You’ve all graduated.”

  *******

  Terry, John, Mei, Sarah, and Roland made their way along the catwalk toward the Sling, with Mr. Nuber behind. The Sling was a massive elevator, which lay at the base of a diagonally shaped tunnel so long that the steel plated walls seemed to fold back in on themselves the farther they went. The chasm gave Terry a terrible headache.

  “What’s wrong with you?” asked John.

  “Nauseous,” said Terry, trying to reorient himself. “Not sure why.”

  “It’s called vertigo,” said Mr. Nuber, pushing through them toward the lift. He carried an extra supply pack in his only arm. “If you can’t handle it, look at the ground or find something to focus your eyes on.”

  Mei, Sarah, and Roland followed after him.

  Terry gripped the handrail and squeezed, closing his eyes.

  “It’ll be fine once we’re inside,” John assured him. “Doesn’t look like there’s any windows.”

  John was right. The Jefferson Lift, otherwise known as the Sling, was entirely windowless. The only means of observation was the locator board inside, which tracked the Sling’s progress through the five-mile diagonal chasm. Of course, the locator board served little purpose other than to give the passengers something to look at. They had nothing else to do, after all. The system was operated entirely from Central’s ECP or the Entry Control Point, where a team of technicians monitored everything that went on inside. This was originally done for security reasons, back when the city still received new visitors.

  “Terry, let’s go,” Nuber called from across the catwalk. “I need everyone inside.”

  “Better hurry,” said John.

  Terry nodded. He swallowed a few times. “I’m not sure I can hold my breakfast in until we get there.”

  “Hey, it’s less than a two hour trip,” John said, patting Terry on the back. “Be there in no time.”

  Nuber smacked the railing with the pack in his hand. The ding echoed loudly through the tunnel. “I said let’s go!”

  Terry and John followed the others in through the lift doors. Once inside, Nuber ordered everyone to choose a seat and strap in.

  The Sling was nothing but a large, square room, with a single row of seats against a wall. Apparently, this had been the only means of transporting supplies to the city during its construction, which meant it had to carry drilling equipment and other large materials. The original engineers wanted to install faster, smaller elevators, but due to the unforeseeable calamity known as the Jolt, those projects never came to pass.

  Nuber kept standing while the students fastened their seatbelts. “Everyone good? Okay. Now we’ve got a few minutes before this thing starts moving, so listen up. I’ve already told you about what’s topside and how dangerous it is, so I won’t bother repeating myself. Instead, I want you to use these next two hours to plan ahead. You’ve all been given packs with enough supplies to get you there and back in one piece.” He took the pack in his arm and tossed it to Sarah, who caught it. “There’s a little more.”

  Nuber looked at each of them. “Remember your training and don’t take any unnecessary risks. You see anything you don’t think you can handle, you get the hell away from it, you hear?”

  They each stared at him.

  After a moment, he grunted. “Alright, that’s it,” he said, waving his only hand. “Now go get those two idiots and bring them home.”

  *******

  It had been over an hour, but the monitor showed they were getting close. The elevator had already begun to decelerate.

  Terry and the others sat in their seats against the wall, unable to speak because of the overwhelming noise of the machine carrying them skyward. Instead, they’d taken to motioning with their hands, but only when necessary. It was a long ride, and there’d be plenty of time for talking after it was over.

  Terry looked at John, who had fallen asleep on Mei’s shoulder. With nothing to engage his attention, it was hardly surprisingly. Maybe it was the white noise of the elevator’s machinery, or maybe it was because they had been dragged out of bed so early in the morning. Either way, Mei didn’t seem to mind.

  Roland had managed to sort through the extra pack Mr. Nuber gave them earlier. It contained some extra MREs and protein bars, bottles of water, and an extra box of medical supplies. He placed various items in each of the others’ bags.

  Terry shifted uncomfortably against the wall. The monitor displayed a map of the pit and their position in it. The map contained clearly distinguishable lines for the shaft, but the elevator was portrayed simply by a green blinking light moving toward the surface. It was remarkably similar to the locator board in Terry’s old home.

  The elevator jerked, slowing its speed again. Suddenly the humming of the engines was lighter, almost to the point where Terry thought he might be able to speak to someone if he tried.

  The Sling shook again a moment later, the sound diminishing even further.

  “Hey!” Roland shouted. “Can you guys hear me?”

  They all agreed they could.

  “Get your gear together and prepare to move,” he said, still yelling.

  Within moments, the Sling slowed to a crawl, the loud, grinding sounds of the engines settling into a low hum. Soon, there was a clicking noise or what must have been the elevator locking into place, followed by a sudden jerk throughout the lift, and finally settling into quiet nothing.

  The silence lasted for only a moment, hastened by the fact that the monitor against the wall was beginning to change. The green light representing the Sling phased to red, and a nearly translucent message box appeared over the bottom half of the screen.

  “WARNING. LIFT DOORS OPENING.”

  The moment reminded Terry of the chamber, just before the gas had come. It was the anticipation, the fear of the pain as it had been the first time he entered the place. After a while it wasn’t so bad. It became easier to breathe with each passing exposure, and it took less time to adjust. But still there was the fear that one day he might go in and never come out. In those days, especially in the beginning, Terry couldn’t help but hold his breath.

  A buzzer rang throughout the Sling, followed by grinding metal as the doors separated. Light pierced the opening crack in the center, spreading and growing rapidly in all directions, overtaking the artificial lamps along the walls. As it reached Terry’s eyes, he flinched. This light was brighter than the lights in the city, sharper in the way it cut the air. Terry reached his hand out and found it was warmer than he expected.

  “Let’s go,” said Roland, once the doors had fully opened. He moved quickly out of the elevator. Terry could barely see him as he disappeared into the blaze of sunlight.

  One by one the others followed. Sarah first, then John and Mei. Terry was the last to leave. He entered through the open door and stepped into the light, the heat covering him like a warm blanket.

  He squinted, trying to orient himself. In every direction, there was so much light, filling everything. How were they supposed to survive such a wild, untamed place? Where was all this light coming from?

  Terry’s head sunk back and his eyes widened. The remnants of the sky were all before him, crimson and violet streaks interlaced with a variety of puffy shapes, which he knew must be clouds. Nestled in the core of the world, a brighter light than anything Terry’s eyes had ever seen.

  It was the sun, and its fire blazed so brightly that Terry stumbled back and to the ground.

  He gasped desperately for air as he landed, huffing and puffing as quickly as his body would let him.

  “Are you okay?” Mei asked, running to his side.

  “Yeah,” Terry wheezed. “I just forgot to breathe.”

  PART 2

  Extinction is the
rule.

  Survival is the exception.

  –Carl Sagan

  All lovely things will have an ending,

  All lovely things will fade and die,

  And youth, that's now so bravely spending,

  Will beg a penny by and by.

  –Conrad Potter Aiken

  Chapter 13

  Amber Project File Logs

  Play Audio File 133

  January 1, 2347

  NUBER: So the chips…what’s the range on one of those?

  ROSS: Approximately four miles, I believe. Five if the weather’s clear.

  NUBER: Seriously? How the hell did you swing that?

  ROSS: It’s not as impressive as it sounds, I assure you. The chip isn’t entirely responsible, either. We have dozens of repeaters stationed all around the safe zone. It’s only four miles right now because we haven’t had the capability to install more yet.

  NUBER: Why not?

  ROSS: Because traveling so far from the city has always been impractical, not to mention dangerous. Don’t you remember your briefing the last time you went topside?

  NUBER: No, Avery, not really. When I think back to the day I got my arm sliced off, the stupid ass briefing isn’t really a mental priority for me. Silly, I know, but that’s just the way my brain works.

  ROSS: Don’t be so dramatic, Henry. Look, the oxygen in the suit you had only lasts for about ten hours, which limits the distance you can travel. There’s also the fact that, historically, there’s never been much of a reason to leave the city. Why spend the time and resources putting up repeaters that far away? We only have so many contractors.

  NUBER: Seems like you’re making excuses for a lack of foresight.

  ROSS: Maybe I am, but that’s my job. Someone has to defend those decisions.

  NUBER: Do you really believe that?

  ROSS: I’m a soldier, Henry. It doesn’t matter what I believe.

  End Audio File

  January 1, 2347

  The Surface