“You’re not going anywhere,” the man said. “Not now you know we’re here. Intruders!” He turned and yelled behind him. “Backup!” Two other men came running along the catwalk, from the inner ring. As they approached, one unsheathed a knife, and the other a pistol. As soon as they reached the platform, the right one aimed his pistol at David’s head, and they advanced slowly.
“There’s not much a desperate man won’t do,” David said, shakily, eyeing them, and wrapping his left arm around the boy’s head as though he was about to break his neck. “We’re refugees. We have a small child, who needs sustenance. Just give us some food and water, and we’ll be on our way.” By this time, another man was walking along the bridge towards them.
“No… can… do,” Antonio’s assailant said, slowly. “We just can’t take the risk of being discovered. Tie them up.” The left man produced a roll of silver duct tape, and advanced.
“I’ll do it,” David said. “Meet my demands else he dies now.”
“And all three of you will go with him,” the gunman said. “Then we’ll find your family, out there”—he nodded towards the door—“and kill them too. It’s a very long way down.” He indicated the edge of the platform, and the drop into oblivion.
David quickly released his captive. “Do what you need to do.” He held out his wrists. They were taped together in one smooth motion. Josiah collapsed, panting, then got up and ran along the causeway towards the wall of the inner silo. The fourth man arrived, and merely watched as David and Antonio were led away in the same direction that Josiah had run. Once they reached the platform connected to the inner silo, two brunette women in worn combat fatigues ran back across to the outer one. They and the one who had watched David and Antonio’s capture exited through the hatch into the corridor that led to the family’s hiding place. A few minutes later, David saw Vivianne’s terrified eyes, fifty meters away, as they were marched in. She and the girls’ arms were taped behind their backs, and they were gagged with a silver strip across their mouths. One of their captors carried a kicking, screaming Etienne over her shoulder. They passed across the walkway, to where David and Antonio were, and all were soon sitting in a semicircle on the wide metal grid that was the ring around the inner silo. Etienne was placed on Vivianne’s lap. She snuggled into her mother, crying. Vivianne struggled against her binding to hold Etienne, but couldn’t break free. Their captors stood guard, in front of them. The gunman had holstered his revolver, while the other dragged the blade of his eight inch hunting knife threateningly across his palm.
Only David and Antonio were not gagged, but they remained silent. They sat on the left side of the group. David looked across at Vivianne, sitting in the center, with an anguished expression. A crowd of onlookers, men, women and children, gathered at a respectful distance. They were grubby, and clothed in what looked like third-generation thrift store wear. The men sported long beards. A well-built black man of some thirty years appeared at a hatch in the floor of the ring. He had climbed the stairs twenty meters up the side of the inner silo, from the level below. He nimbly pulled himself up, stood up, and walked round to the front of the captives. His white t-shirt revealed large biceps, and his hair was cut short. A large letter X had been carved into his right forearm. “Well, well, well,” he said, sizing them up. “This is a bigger group of trespassers than we’ve had in a while. Tell me, how did you find your way in here?”
“We caught the boy, Josiah,” David blurted out, “and demanded he lead us to a source of food and water. It’s not his fault, so please don’t punish him.”
“That’s our business,” Muscle Man snapped. “Now, there are dozens of bodies down there.” He indicated the edge of the platform, with a sideways tilt of his head. “Give me a good reason why you shouldn’t join them.”
“Please, we’re just trying to escape the war. We can help, too,” David said frantically. “Whatever you need done, we can do. We’ll help guard against intruders.”
“You’re too old,” the leader said to David. He looked at Antonio. “You’re an effing escaped supermodel. You’re too skinny,” he said to Kassandra. “You got a kid,” he said to Vivianne. “A burden on resources.” He turned to Annabelle. “And you’re too fat.”
“We’ll do anything!” Antonio said. “Please, if nothing else, feed the child. We swear we’ll keep this place secret.”
“Although, if you could offer us sanctuary…” David said.
“Silence! I see no good reason to keep any of you.” The captives looked at one another, with terror written on their faces. Muscle Man turned to his right. “All spectators back! Anybody not on the defense squad! You don’t need to watch them die.” The small crowds on both sides ran quickly around the ring, out of sight behind the center silo.
“No!” David shouted.
A gray haired, bearded white man of some sixty years, wearing a long-sleeved denim shirt, poked his head up through the same hatch, and climbed out. “JC!” he said angrily to the leader. “You will do nothing with them for the time being! We must assess them first.”
“I already did. They are unfit in every way.”
Gray Hair walked around to the front of the group, and examined them each in turn, his eyes narrow. “You must have some kind of smarts,” he said to David, “if you managed to catch one of our Raiders.”
David’s face relaxed slightly. “Yes, sir. He helped.” He cocked his head to his right, indicating Antonio.
“I can run like the wind, sir,” Antonio said.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Kassandra deactivated her disguise. Her face changed from being average looking to her revealing her true beauty. Gray Hair raised an eyebrow. “So, we have a walking disguise. How many more of you are like that?”
“None, sir,” David said. “That’s the truth.”
“You are a fine specimen,” JC said, looking Kassandra up and down. “I might just have to keep you for my own.” Kassandra tried to yell through her gag.
Gray Hair, ignoring the other man’s lechery, looked at Kassandra. He walked over and ripped the tape from her face. She winced. “Speak!” he said.
“I am an heir to Imperial Space Industries. My grandfather owns it. I can get you whatever you need.”
The old man shook his head. “Money doesn’t mean squat down here,” he said quietly. “Only loyalty, hard work, and resourcefulness.”
“But…” Kassandra protested. A walkie-talkie attached to his belt squawked “We have a situation. Your presence is requested on level twenty, sir.”
Gray Hair left, heading back down the staircase. David turned to JC. “Really, we can help. Things have gotten worse out there. That’s probably what your leader is about to find out. You need more help, not less.”
JC glared at David. “I am the leader,” he hissed. The captives stayed silent, as JC walked back and forth in front of them, his jaw set, looking as though he would like to throw them over the edge at any minute. Soon after that, JC was called down to join the meeting. One of the women, a blonde wearing blue jeans and a tight black sweater, who had captured Annabelle and the others, guarded them. She sat cross-legged, facing them, her pistol drawn. She mostly looked down at the platform, not saying anything.
Etienne whined and grizzled. “Please, you have to help us,” Kassandra said. “Or at least help the baby.” Their guard looked at up Etienne, and then off into the distance, somewhere over their heads. The sounds of raised voices arguing echoed from somewhere below. People milled about on the platforms, both above and below the captives’ location. The babble of far off conversation could be heard. The smell of meat and vegetables cooking occasionally took the edge off the dank air.
Eventually an anxious-looking Gray Hair and JC came back up the stairs, and walked around to the front of the group. JC’s eyes were narrow and his brow furrowed, as his stare fixed on them. “You are admitted,” Gray Hair said, his steely blue eyes fixing on them, “as long as you understand you�
�re here for life.” He let his words sink in.
The six adults looked at each other. “For life?” Vivianne said.
“We are The Excluded,” Gray Hair said. “Some of us are outcasts for one reason or another, and others chose not to live as members of mainstream society. This community is secret. The bowels of the city are places that few people go. Since everything was automated, there’s no reason for people to come down here. We have to keep it that way. That’s why nobody is allowed to leave, and those who do venture out, like our friend that you caught, use extreme secrecy. Life is hard here, make no mistake. If you choose to leave, I won’t throw you over the side, as he would.” He looked at JC, and then back at them. “I’m a little more charitable, as I see you’re hapless travelers who ended up here by mistake. However, you will be sworn to secrecy, and if you betray us, we will find you and kill you. Mark my words. I need an answer now.”
“What do you think?” David said to the others.
“Well,” Vivianne said, “there may not be anything to return to.” She sighed.
This is our best chance.” The others, still gagged, nodded vigorously.
David looked back up. “We’d like to stay.”
“Then I should properly introduce myself. I am Lord August.” David nodded, clearly impressed. “You will each receive one of these.” He rolled up the right sleeve of his shirt, to reveal a long-healed scar in the shape of a large X. Their eyes widened. “It stands for Excluded, of course. The child will receive hers at age ten. You will be assigned to unit 24C, six levels below this one. You will all be given your duties.” He turned to his right. “JC, untie them and escort them down.” JC produced a Stanley knife and roughly cut their bonds of duct tape, while glaring at them. Those who were still gagged then ripped the tape off, with their freed hands, wincing as they did so. Etienne continued whimpering softly.
Annabelle ran her right hand through their hair. “So… I don’t really know what to say, for once.”
“Me neither,” Kassandra said.
“On your feet! Move out!” JC barked, as he headed towards the trap door that led to the stairs. They immediately obeyed. Vivianne slung Etienne over her shoulder. They followed him, single file, down the staircase, the girls in front and the men at the back. The stairs switched direction halfway between each level. They descended the vast outer wall of the inner silo like a line of ants going down the side of a tree trunk. After five more floors, by which time they were panting, JC led them from the stairs back onto the ring. They then walked along the bridge to a platform at the outer wall. It, like all the others, was half the size of a tennis court, with its long side against the wall. “They’re all yours, M,” JC said, before turning and heading back the way they had come. They stood there awkwardly, awaiting further instructions.
“Ah, newbies,” a young woman with short, straight blonde hair said, as she walked over and sized them up. Her features were somewhat masculine, and she wore black sweatpants and a light blue t-shirt. The X scar on her arm showed prominently. “Well, I’m Magana.” She shrugged. “Welcome to 24C, I guess.”
“My child is desperately starving and thirsty,” Vivianne pleaded. “Please, something for her first.”
Magana walked to the other side of the platform, against the silo wall, filled a metal cup from a press-down faucet on a plastic water barrel, and brought it back. Vivianne sat down with Etienne on her lap, and handed her the cup. She immediately drank deeply from it, spilling half of it on herself. She coughed, brought a little of it back up, and then resumed wolfing it down. “You all look worn out,” Magana said.
They nodded vigorously. “We are,” Annabelle said.
“Sit. Eat. Courtney, fetch some stew.” A long, dark-haired girl of some twelve years got up, went over by the water barrel. She ladled the meat and vegetable concoction from a ten-gallon aluminum pot, sitting on a two-ring electric stove, into six metal bowls. “Come and get it,” Courtney said impatiently, turning towards the travelers, holding a bowl in each hand.
“Sure.” They lined up eagerly and grabbed the bowls as she handed them out. They sat down and ate quickly. Other residents milled about on the platform, eyeing the newcomers suspiciously. At the opposite side from where the group sat, makeshift tents were set up using bed sheets fastened to the handrail at one side. They were draped over a taut line that extended the width of the platform, so that they hung down to the floor. Blankets could be seen inside, through doorways that been cut in the sheets and pinned back. Some children had already bedded down for the night. Vivianne fed Etienne before she herself ate. “What about dessert, Maman?”
“Not tonight, honey. Or ever again, probably.”
“At least we’re safe,” Annabelle said. Her eyes drooped from sheer exhaustion. Vivianne nodded.
“Yeah,” Kassandra sighed. Etienne finished eating and immediately fell fast asleep.
“Um… Magana?” David said.
“What?”
“Where should we sleep?”
Magana, standing at the end of the platform from where the walkway to the inner silo branched off, shrugged. “Well, this place is pretty full, so it’ll have to be on the bridge for now”—she gestured behind her with her head—“until we sort out a proper place for you all.” She turned to her left, towards the row of tents. Courtney sat outside of the one at the end, reading. “Be a dear and get some blankets.”
“Where from?” Courtney said.
“Each family will have to give one up for now.”
“Hmph.” Courtney put her book down huffily, got up, and went from tent to tent. After some grumbling from within, she had collected five blankets. She tossed them at David.
“Right. Over here then, I guess,” David said. He took the blankets out onto the catwalk and spread them out, side by side. After a look into the depths on either side of the long, four meter-wide structure, he said, “I for one am exhausted. Let’s bed down.” Soon, all six were lying on the blankets.
Annabelle looked over the edge. “That is a very long way down. In fact, I can’t even see the bottom.”
Kassandra was lying on a blanket face down, looking down through the roughly three-by-six centimeter holes in the metal grid. “It sure is. But, we’re safe. That’s all that matters to me right now.”
“I agree,” Antonio said.
The metal handrails at either side were at hip height, with two evenly spaced bars below. “Those gaps are easily big enough for Etienne to fit through,” Vivianne said. “It worries me.”
David shrugged. “There’s absolutely nothing we can do about it right now.”
“Yeah.” Vivianne laid down on her side, curling herself around Etienne’s tiny form. “Goodnight all.”
“Night.”
“Goodnight.”
----
The next morning saw a hive of activity on the platform. The travelers awoke to the smell of vegetables cooking nearby. Half the residents were already gone. Some hauled large jugs of water and supplies up and down the long staircases. One woman washed dishes in the plastic bowl next to the two-ring stove in the outer corner. The girls rubbed their eyes and looked around. Kassandra looked up at the platform above theirs, and then walked to the edge to peer up as far as she could. David walked from their sleeping spot back onto the deck. Magana sat cross-legged near the stove, eating, while Courtney stirred the contents of a frying pan. David looked quizzically at the food. “Is that asparagus?”
“Yes,” Magana replied.
“For breakfast?”
“This ain’t the Hilton. We eat what we can get,” she said, with a small shrug. “You’ll get used to it. This is quite a luxury actually. I begged it from 23B because we had noobs.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“We appreciate it,” Annabelle said, as she walked over. Antonio stood nearby, wearing a frown.
Vivianne was still sitting where she and Etienne had slept. “You see that fence?” she said to Etienne, pointing at it.
“Yes.”
“You must never, ever go near it. You understand?”
Etienne frowned as she studied it and looked into the half-light beyond. “What’s out there? Monsters?”
“Umm, yes. Monsters.”
David, already sitting and eating near Magana, asked: “How big is this place, and how does it work?”
“There are forty levels,” she said. “They’re twenty meters apart. Each level has six platforms like this one, spaced evenly around the circumference, and connected to the ring around the silo in the middle. The ones on the same level designated with letters A through F. This is level twenty-four. Twenty-four times twenty is four hundred and eighty meters. That’s how high up we are. All the decks are used. There are around three hundred and fifty residents total. Most of the other decks are used to grow produce.”
“Wow,” Annabelle said, as she ate and listened intently.
“Everyone has jobs,” Magana continued. “Some lead, some clean, some haul garbage. Lots of it. Some are Caretakers, some are Electricians, some are Farmers, and others are Defenders.”
“Does this place get attacked often?” David said, with raised eyebrows.
“No, but we’re ready just in case. Some of the soldiers are also Raiders. They go out and steal food and other supplies. I gather that’s how you found us. One of them was not quite careful enough.” She folded her arms and scowled. “If he was in my unit I’d string him up for being so careless. He broke the rules by going out alone instead of in a pair.”
Their eyes widened. “Wow…” Kassandra said, at last. “And nobody in Lyon knows about this place?”
“Nobody apart from those living in the other silos. We have an uneasy peace with them.”
----
After breakfast was wrapped up, the questions kept coming. “What is this place, and why does it even exist?” Annabelle asked.
Magana looked across at the inner silo. “It’s a service core for the city. The bottom is a zero-point power station. Above that is a vertical farm. The city is almost self-sustaining that way. There are eight such cores equally spaced around Lyon, equidistant from the center.”
The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series Page 9
