The Place Inside the Storm

by Bradley W Wright

  We watched the sun go down behind the towering buildings of the Los Angeles city core then waited another hour before setting out. It didn’t take long to cross over the stream and scramble up the opposite bank. At the top, we found the hole in the fence Xel had passed through earlier. Xel went through then Loki. I stopped for a moment, looking back at the massive concrete basin, silvery in the moonlight that glinted off the trickle of water in the middle, and gave thanks to that river for allowing us to travel with it for a stretch and for keeping us safe. With one last look back, I ducked and squeezed through the opening in the fence.

  On the other side was a garbage-strewn no man’s land of gravel and concrete, a barricade which we climbed over, and then a four-lane road. Fifty meters down the road, an autotruck was just pulling out, passing through an armed gate. We watched it go by. The front end was a curved, aerodynamic surface studded with the sensors the computer used to pilot the truck. After it passed, we darted across the road and found ourselves at the base of a wall about three meters high and topped with razor wire. Xel motioned for us to turn right and follow. He led us away from the gate along the perimeter of the fence. After about a hundred paces, he stopped, looking up toward the top of the wall. I looked up too, following his gaze. There was a dirty blanket thrown over the razor wire and under it, propped against the wall, was a pallet.

  “Somebody else entered here,” Xel said. “This is how I got in earlier. You will have to climb to the top of the pallet and pull yourselves up from there. The blanket is thick and will protect you from the wire. Drop down on the far side.”

  Loki nodded to me. “You first,” he said. “I can give you a push to help you over.”

  I climbed up the pallet so that my toes were on the upper edge and wrapped my fingers over the top of the wall. Loki got behind me, put his hands under my heels, counted to three, then shoved as I jumped. I lifted a foot and scrambled up, careful not to cut myself on the bits of razor that poked through the blanket. I eased myself over the other side, lowered myself to hanging, took a deep breath, and let go. For an instant, I was hanging in the air, then I hit the ground with a jarring thud and rolled over backward. By the time I regained my feet, Loki was hanging and dropping, landing next to me and rolling over too. Xel bounded over the wall and landed gracefully next to us. He stood for a moment, absolutely still, ears rotated outward.

  “Dogs,” he said, “coming this way. Follow me quickly.”

  He turned to the right and began to run. Loki and I followed. To my right was the wall we had come over. To my left, rows and rows of steel cargo containers flashing by as we ran. Suddenly, Xel turned, dashing down one of the rows, and we followed. The containers were big--three meters high and four times as long. I heard something behind us and glanced back. Two bounding figures were following and gaining on us.

  “Here. Climb to the top!” Xel cried as he wheeled and faced the dogs. I scrambled up the steel rungs welded to the exterior of the container and Loki followed on my heels. Below I heard a yelp, a hiss, and a sound of tearing. I threw myself onto the top of the container and crawled to the edge. Below, I saw Xel moving like a whirlwind. One of the dogs was already down. The other was fighting, but it was no match for Xel. He was on its back in an instant, claws tearing it apart. A moment later, he was dragging the dog parts into the shadows between two other containers. Loki joined me but there was nothing else to see. Xel emerged from the shadows and followed us up to the top of the container. I turned and sat, facing him, the steel cool and damp underneath me.

  “What happened? Were those robot dogs?”

  “Primitive brains. Not AI. I dispatched them.”

  “What if they did have brains? What would you do?”

  “I don’t know, Tara. My primary mission is to protect you. I would not like to kill another AI that could think and feel. I probably would if I had to. Let’s get inside. This container is scheduled to be shipped out in less than an hour.”

  There was a locked hatch on the top of the container. I got out my plasma knife while Loki and Xel moved to stand between me and a distant tower where workers dispatched cranes to move containers on and off of waiting trucks. Hoping they would block out enough of the light and sparks to keep from drawing the attention of the tower, I flipped the knife on and hastily cut through the lock. We entered the container quickly then, closing the hatch behind us. With the dim light from outside cut off, it was completely dark inside. Plastic crinkled under my feet and I heard Loki digging in his pack.

  “Just a second,” he said. =

  Then, a wan, warm light bloomed in the dark as Loki turned on his lantern. We were sitting on stacks of boxes, shrink wrapped in plastic and strapped to pallets. There was just enough space between the top of the stack and the roof of the container for us to crouch or sit upright.

  Loki turned to me. “I feel one coming on,” he said, lifting a trembling hand.

  A moment later, his body went rigid, and he fell backward as I rushed to help.

  Chapter 11

  Across the Border

  Loki lay exhausted from his seizure, sprawled on one of the palleted and wrapped stacks of boxes. It had been over half an hour since we broke into the container. My active worry that we would be discovered had subsided into a general anxiety. I sat awkwardly next to Loki. His face was slack and his eyes jumped under the lids. Xel sat on his other side, monitoring his vital signs.

  “He is sleeping soundly now. His brain activity has calmed,” Xel said.

  I nodded, still watching his face, his chest rising and falling. Somewhere far off, I heard a low droning sound. I ignored it at first but it steadily became louder and louder. Then suddenly--Crash!--a deafening noise and impact shook the entire container, knocking me sideways. The shaking was soon followed by a sickening sensation of movement.

  “What’s happening, Xel?” I yelled.

  “A crane has picked up the container. They’re putting us on a truck,” he shouted back.

  It felt like the whole container was being lifted high in the air then swung in an arc. I held on to Loki to keep him from sliding. We came to a stop, swinging back and forth for a moment, before the container began to lower slowly down.

  Finally, there came a bump and a sound of metal hitting metal as the steel box made contact with the flatbed of a truck. More clanking and banging followed as various parts were folded and fitted to lock our box into place. I imagined robot arms fastening us onto the flatbed but it could have been real people. I just hoped nobody was going to check the hatches or open the doors. As a precaution, I reached over and turned off the lantern.

  We sat there in the dark for another ten minutes until, with a jolt, we began to move. I imagined the truck passing between rows of other containers, stopping at the gate, turning onto the road we had crossed. For a while, the truck continued to move slowly. I could feel the powerful motor humming, gearing up and down. Eventually, after a couple of turns and an incline that might have been an onramp, we accelerated quickly. I could feel that we were moving fast and, before long, the truck settled into a steady pace, probably in a pack of other autotrucks, caravanning on the freeway.

  My body began to relax. I had been holding myself tense for an hour or more. After a while, I realized it was still completely dark. I had been squeezing my eyes closed, imagining what was happening outside. I fumbled around until I found the lantern and turned it on low. Xel was there, on the other side of Loki still, gazing at me with his usual implacable expression. His shadow loomed huge on the wall of the container.

  “Can you tell where we are, Xel?”

  “No. I’m not getting any signal through this steel. Please open the hatch, and I will try again.”

  I crouched below the hatch and pushed it open. Luckily, it was mostly shielded from the wind by the tall engine cabin of the truck. Still it was almost wrenched out of my grip. The sky above was clear and full of stars.

  “Yes. I’m getting signal now. We are on Interstate Five, headi
ng north.”

  “Unbelievable,” I answered. “We actually made it.”

  “We have not made it yet, but our chances have improved greatly,” he said, gazing steadily at me.

  I sat thinking for a while. It occurred to me that I had no idea how we would get out of the container and off the truck when the time came. “What happens now, Xel? How do we get out when we get to Oregon?”

  “There is a weigh station north of Eugene. The autotrucks do not actually come to a full stop but they do slow down considerably. We will have to jump off the truck there and walk back. We will have overshot by approximately ten miles, a full day of walking.”

  “How long until we get there?”

  “We should be there in a little over eight hours. We seem to be traveling at almost exactly one hundred miles per hour, judging by my sampling of GPS readings.”

  “I guess I’ll sleep for a while then,” I said, yawning. “There’s no chance we’ll stop before then?”

  “I don’t think so. Not unless they suspect we have stowed away on this truck.”

  “All right,” I said, spreading out my sleeping bag. “Wake me up if anything happens.”

  I lay back, resting my head on my arm, staring at the ceiling of the container. Wind was whipping in through the open hatch but the fresh air was nice so I left it open. I thought it might take me a while to calm down and fall asleep. I was exhausted though. All the activity of the day had worn me out. Almost immediately, I felt consciousness draining away into the dark as my eyelids fluttered closed.

  ***

  Loki woke me up, shaking my shoulder and saying my name. “Tara, wake up.”

  “What?” I asked, struggling out of sleep. “What time is it? Are we there? I’m starving,” I said, sitting up.

  “It’s four a.m. We’re about thirty miles from the weigh station. We need to start getting ready.”

  “Okay,” I answered.

  I dug a nutrient packet from my rucksack and added it to the last of the water in my bottle. I rubbed sleep from my eyes and sat drinking the shake until it was all gone. My body and mind were weary. But we were in PacNW cluster, I realized suddenly! We must have passed over the border while I was sleeping. We had made it--as long as we were able to get off the truck without killing ourselves.

  “Were you awake when we crossed the border?” I asked Loki.

  “No. I slept through it too. I just woke up half an hour ago. Xel told me about the weigh station. I guess these autotrucks don’t ever really stop until they get to where they’re going. We’re really in old Oregon now though. It started to rain a while back and I had to close the hatch. When I put my head out there were trees everywhere and it smelled like pine and rain.” Loki seemed energized, maybe even happy.

  “I can smell it in the air,” I said, agreeing.

  He was right. Even with the hatch closed, I could feel the damp of the rain and the coolness. We crouched there, waiting, for the next twenty minutes.

  Finally, Xel spoke. “It’s time to get ready. The truck will slow down when it is approaching the turn off. Once we pull off the freeway, we will continue to slow. We will roll over the weigh station scales at about five miles per hour then begin to speed up again to merge back onto the freeway. We need to jump off at the slowest speed. We will have about twenty seconds. Loki should be looking out the hatch. As soon as we begin to slow, he should climb out and crawl to the ladder. Tara, you follow him. I will come last. Climb to the bottom of the ladder and jump off. There will be another truck behind us so you will have to jump sideways and roll out of the way.”

  Loki and I glanced at each other then looked back at Xel.

  “All right,” Loki said. “I’m ready.”

  “Me too,” I replied.

  Loki pushed the hatch open and stood up, his head and shoulders sticking out the top. We had both put on our rain gear. His poncho whipped about in the wind. I crouched next to him, looking up. My heart was beating fast and my palms were itching. I closed my eyes for an instant, breathing deep. I thought I felt the truck begin to slow.

  “Now,” Loki called out and scrambled up through the hatch.

  As soon as his feet were through, I followed. The rain and cold hit me immediately. I kept going, managing to get out and crawl along the top of the container, holding on to the steel struts and moving as fast as I could. The truck seemed to slow even more. I made it the edge and saw Loki below, hanging onto the rungs. Another truck was following us about fifteen meters back. Its headlights shone bright on Loki’s wet poncho. I turned carefully and lowered my feet to the rung above where his hands were. The steel was cold and slippery and the wind was blowing rain in my face. I shook my head to get the water out of my eyes. There was a loud, dull thud as the truck crossed from asphalt roadway onto the massive steel plate that I supposed was the scale. I glanced down and saw Loki fling himself from the ladder. Quickly, I climbed down after him. My hand slipped off a rung, and I floundered for a moment but regained my grip. There was a bump as the rear wheels moved back onto asphalt. Now or never, I thought, and jumped. As I flew through the air, I marveled for a moment at how far I had jumped. My legs were definitely stronger now. A dark shape flew above me--Xel leaping from the top of the container. Then I hit the pavement, my knees buckled, and I rolled over and over, leaving the asphalt and finally coming to a stop in a patch of wet weeds and mud. I lay there dazed. My poncho had been caught by the wind and I could feel cold rain dripping on my side. Something hard in my backpack was poking me between my shoulder blades. After a time I felt something wet touch my face.

  “Are you all right, Tara?” It was Xel.

  I turned my head and saw his eyes. Loki was walking toward us. Another autotruck hit the scales with a loud bang and then accelerated away from us.

  “Can you stand?” Loki asked. “We should get away from here.”

  “Yes,” I answered, pushing up onto my elbows. I got my legs under me and stood shakily. “We made it,” I said, looking from Loki to Xel. “We’re in Oregon.”

  Loki was smiling back at me. Xel was nodding.

  “Yeah,” Loki said. “We made it. We need to get moving though.”

  Xel led us away from the brightly lit weigh station into a stand of tall trees. The freeway was nearby and I could hear trucks flashing by and see their lights. Rain dripped down from the branches above. I took a deep breath. The air smelled like home--full of aromas of grass and dirt and rotting leaves and pine needles. Beneath my feet the ground was soft.

  “From here, we will need to get across the highway,” Xel said. “We can wait at the tree line for an opening then run across. There is a wide median. We will run there then get down and wait for another opening to get across to the far side. There is a road close by that will take us west to the old highway Ninety-Nine. We can walk along Ninety-Nine South to Eugene.”

  A raindrop fell from my hood onto my nose when I nodded my agreement. Xel turned and we followed him.

  The autotrucks were fast but they traveled in packs with plenty of space in between. Soon there was a break and we darted across to the median. Another break came and we ran to the far side, leapt over a ditch, and waded through tall grass and mud that pulled at my feet with every step. Finally, we came up an embankment and found a one lane gravel road.

  “This is it,” Xel said.

  He turned west and led us away from the bright lights of the freeway, into the dark.

  ***

  Around mid-morning the rain stopped, and the sun came out in short bursts as a relentless wind from the west pushed patchy clouds across the sky. It was cold. I guess I had started to get used to the heat down south like my mom said I would. I put on every layer I had, but the wind still chilled my face. For Loki it was worse. He had lived in Los Angeles for his whole life, or as long as he could remember anyway. Luckily, we had brought high quality military surplus cold weather gear. Still, Loki was worn out from his seizure the night before. He walked slowly and spoke little.
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br />   We had been traveling all day along train tracks that paralleled the highway. Overgrown fields spread out on both sides. Occasionally, we passed farmhouses that seemed occupied, with dogs and livestock and cultivated land, but most of the fields and farms were deserted. There were trestle bridges over clear streams where we struggled down through blackberry brambles to fill our water bottles, red tailed hawks high above, old train cars abandoned and rusting by the side of the tracks. Just after noon, we stopped for lunch, sitting in the open doorway of an old railcar. The sun was warm on my legs and I was sleepy. I looked over at Loki and saw that he was half asleep, his instafood meal forgotten in his lap.

  “Let’s stop here,” I said. “We can camp in this railcar and walk the rest of the way tomorrow.”

  Xel was watching Loki too.

  “No, I can keep going,” Loki said, rousing himself. “Let’s get to your grandmother’s house.”

  I shook my head. “You’re worn out. So am I. Another half a day doesn’t matter. Let’s stop here.”

  “Good idea,” Xel said. “You should set up the tent inside the railcar in case it starts to rain again. The roof looks leaky.”

  I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around but staying close to our camp while Loki slept. I found a small stream with trees growing on both banks, the branches arching over and forming a solid canopy overhead. It was colder in the shade by the water but I stayed there for a while, tossing leaves and sticks in and watching the current slowly carry them away. It reminded me of the stream behind our old house where I used to play. I missed that stream. Sitting there, gazing at the water, I realized it was one of the things I had missed the most after we moved and started living in the corp world. The Xia Yu housing, my school, the perfect sidewalks, and carefully tended landscaping--everything there was artificial. There was no nature, no room for anything random, no weeds, no fallen leaves. Nothing growing without human intervention. Water had always fascinated me. I used to spend hours by the stream behind our house. In the fall, red and gold leaves would drop from the trees, drift down onto the water, and then be carried slowly away. In winter, the edges would sometimes be icy. In spring and summer, the water striders would gather in the shallow, still parts, skipping across the surface. Somebody else was probably living in that house now. I thought about my old room but with someone else’s things in it, the walls blank instead of covered with my posters and drawings, different curtains on the window. My vision blurred as tears welled up. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. I would probably never see that house again. I wouldn’t be able to go back there.