Exile: Arc

by Jack Lance

  The trees were still a twisted scorched mess, barely holding up the plush foliage that crammed together at the arched ceiling. It took them aback slightly to see the strange and secret place, but not so much as to stop them making their escape.

  The drug doped inhabitants of the psycho wing sat below the swaying scarlet canopies as they joined them on the grass, looking at each of them in confusion until they had passed by.

  When they had passed under a fallen tree canopy the entrance to the place became clear, hiding behind a fountain that extended from the wall, in the shape of cupped hands reaching out at different heights. They each made their way up the stone steps at either side of the central waterfall, and through the smaller falls into the broad cavern behind them.

  Randall paused momentarily to look at the white line embedded in the plateau of rock behind the falling water, before moving on.

  Again, Kane was laughing, as if to himself somehow. They all tried to ignore him as they stood together in the last enclosure before the outer Narcosia environment. They stood staring at the flat wall at the back of the dank cave, with the huge white door standing in it.

  “Just one more to go.” Rhia said as she unhooked the wire loop from the back of the chair, and then walked backward to the broad door.

  She began connecting it to the keypad there, and said “Last door. This one will be a little tricky.”

  Far away over the basin, Port Farnon had flown far enough to almost reach the center. He was struggling to stay focused while the heletank so close behind him howled and screeched, while shining blinding rainbow targeting beams through the back of the cockpit.

  “Oh Fate be with me.” he said as he saw he was close to the smaller artificial crater that was reputed to surround the citadel zone.

  The view all around the cockpit suddenly twisted and morphed, so that momentarily the ground was above the plane and vice versa. Then he passed through the cloaking field, and he found himself flying at great speed over a blinding light, and arrowing between two of the mighty citadels.

  He steadied it, still hearing the heletank close behind. It opened fire again, and Farnon flicked the plane aside as the fiery bullets arced past him.

  Then he spotted ahead a group of three huge windmills nearby the last in the line of citadels, that were no doubt a backup power supply for the zone. He took the plane along the base of the citadels toward the windfarm.

  The plane flew down low beside the ground between a row of blinding floodlamps and then pulled up as he reached the first of the windmills. He flew up along the tower supporting the blades, as the heletank followed close behind. A missile lock was acquired on the center of the blades and Farnon opened fire.

  A single missile whistled ahead and blew the windmill from its tower. Above the explosion bloomed out and through it the huge head of the windmill fell, still spinning a little.

  Farnon, panicking slightly guided the plane through two of the blades and then blasted off up the tall wall of the closest citadel.

  Behind, the heletank flew directly into the windmill head, which gathered it up and crushed it down into the concrete.

  Farnon cut the engine when he had reached a certain height, allowing the plane to slow in its own momentum. As it stopped he noticed a camera leaning out of the side of the citadel, and waved at it cheesily before the plane was pulled back and accelerated by gravity. He flew down and over the burning heletank, then took the plane out of the glaring place, and back over the basin toward the dome.

  At the white door behind the waterfall Rhia clapped her hands, making a sound that echoed in the stone place.

  “Ok kittens!” she said. “Everyone ready?”

  Some nodded, and Rhia reached into the open space behind the keypad. There was a harsh hiss and flicker within, like the kind of discharge that should have burned her fingertips. Rhia was fine, and stepped back as the door began to slowly slide up.

  The freezing air blew in over them and they cringed against it as the door rose to the top, spilling bright white light into the cave.

  They each slowly walked forward and through the doorway, with Francine covering the mouth of her baby to shield against the frosty air. Thom and Randall stayed behind them, and walked out onto the snow between a semi circle of floodlights.

  Ahead of them was a shallow valley covered in smooth snow, leading down then up to the first of the mountains at the craters rim. At the edge of the valley, just before the first two jagged peaks was a concrete installation surrounded by a high chain link fence, and barbed wire. Within was a complex mesh of super transistors and wires at the base of four gigantic windfarm towers.

  They looked at them in the lessening light, illuminated by their own floodlamps that had come on for the night. They slowly creaked and groaned as they turned, driven by a wind channel between the two peaks behind it.

  “Where do we go?” Francine said, as she rocked the baby against her shoulder.

  Above them then was a howl of jets, and the plane piloted by Port Farnon flew down and landed in the valley. It skidded to a stop on skis that had been fitted underneath, and then the cockpit opened, and Farnon waved.

  Behind him, beyond the power station in the narrow gorge between the peaks, there was the sound of gun fire, and bullets whistled past the plane.

  “Get back.” Rhia shouted and ushered them to return to the cave.

  Farnon scrambled out of the cockpit and ran up across the snow to the doors. He made it to cover, just as more bullets whistled from the darkness beyond the power plant.

  They hid behind the sides of the door, while Randall and Rhia leaned around the edge, and looked to see what would happen next.

  There were no more bullets, but the sound of voices could be heard. Then all around the front of the mountains began to dance with coloured light.

  The perimeter robots that had been reprogrammed had lain in wait, and now activated as the soldiers closed in. There was suddenly the sound of gunshots, and raucous cries from the soldiers as the two sides clashed.

  Beside them Kane was laughing loudly.

  “What the hell are you so happy about?” Thom said at last.

  “Oh my petty goodness.” he said. “None of you have realized even yet.”

  “What then?” Rhia said, uninterested.

  “That one of your number is missing?” he spluttered, and continued laughing.

  They all began looking to one another, searching to see who might have gone.

  Thom looked at each of them and suddenly realized.

  “Jayne.” he whispered, then dived at the chair strangling Kane against the clip holding him. “What the hell did you do to her!”

  Kane sputtered another laugh and tried to say something.

  Randall gently pulled Thom back, and Kane looked up at them “If I can’t have her, you sure as God can’t. Stupid punk. I added her to the Spring lists. She’s been taken to the citadels. I’m sure she’ll be the life of the party. In fact… I’m sure she’ll go down really well. Ha ha.”

  Kane laughed raucously, and stopped as Thom struck him hard across the face.

  Thom stepped back holding his sore hand, and slowly broke down. Randall watched him, realizing that his friend wasn’t going to be able to help any longer.

  High above the dome the air had cleared as night had fallen.

  Bailey had climbed up onto the roof of the control hut and was standing beside the base of the antenna looking out over all sides of the dome with the binoculars. Through the night vision he could see the cadres of troops either lined and waiting for orders, or fighting with the now psychotic colony robots.

  His cloned multi-com buzzed in his trouser pocket, and he received the call from Randall.

  He opened the com and said “Bailey.”

  Immediately he could hear the cries and moans of the people around Randall.

  “What’s happened?” Bailey said with a flush of anxiety.

  “It’s Kane.” Randall panted. “He says he go
t Jayne abducted. She’s missing. I think he’s telling the truth.”

  “She’ll be at the citadels now.” Bailey said, as he started to shake slightly.

  Don’t panic. I said don’t panic!

  “What do we do, Bailey?” Randall said, sounding like he was about to cry himself. “Should we carry on, or…”

  “Yes.” Bailey said quietly. “You must get to the rendezvous. I’ll go get Jayne. Ok? Tell Thom I’ll bring her back. I’m coming to you now. Do you hear me?”

  There was no reply from Randall. Only the cries from the people behind could be heard. They rang in Bailey’s ears, churning his mind and then finally managed to drive him to the breaking point.

  He dropped the multi-com into the snow at his feet, and stood staring wide eyed into nothingness. The small but icy flakes of snow landed on his nose and eyes, and still he stared.

  Lose, Lose…

  The Narcosia sky was the same as any other night. The stars were a brilliant collection of piercing dots, like burning rocks sank slightly into the fabric of the night.

  On this night, there were differences though. An emergency was taking place throughout the system that surrounded and penetrated the planet. The effects of this hadn’t yet managed to reach the dome, but now, out of the night sky a huge rod flew at great speed toward the control hut.

  The rod hit the roof of the hut and slid down into it until it ran out of momentum and stood alongside the antenna, like a smaller cousin to it.

  There was a sound like an old film projector starting up, and then holograms of four men appeared on the roof beside the door to the antenna. They stood as if they were on the snow, crouching slightly and looking about themselves.

  “I can’t see anything.” one of them said to High General Kinnyck, who stood at the front. “Ah there we are. Oh good shot commander. All the way from orbit. How remarkable.”

  The man who had been Bailey watched them from a perch high up on the antenna. He hugged it close and tight as the cold wind washed the snow over him.

  The four men noticed this and began to walk toward him.

  “Mr Bailey? Aaron Bailey?” Kinnyck said. “We would like to talk to you about this infraction if we may? We four work in the command citadel, and must take alarms such as these very seriously. Can we help perhaps? What do you think you are doing?”

  The man said nothing, simply hugging the antenna, which rocked slightly in the winds higher up.

  “Are you alone Mr Bailey? If you tell us who else is involved maybe we can….” Kinnyck stopped and watched the man he believed to be Aaron Bailey. “Mr Bailey?”

  The man looked down at him, with a piercing stare, and smiled slowly baring his white teeth.

  Kinnyck and the others cringed and began backing away.

  “Oh my God.” a man of lesser rank said behind him. “Call the brigades in orbit. Tell them this is serious.”

  “I’m coming to get you.” Arc said coldly and with malice.

  The men disappeared as they turned away, to get to work in opposition to Arc’s plans.

  Arc Micormic waited a moment, grinning, and then let go of the antenna.

  Thom, Randall and the others were still standing around on the flats just outside of the portcullis listening to the gunfire, that had now been driven back into the mountains. They had all but been demoralized when Randall’s multi-com rang. He put it on loud speaker and they listened as the voice they knew as Bailey came over to them.

  “Hello friends. I am on my way there now. The heletank will be out in force but I believe there is a service tunnel I can use to get through to the citadel zone. It leads from the other dome, which shouldn’t be a problem if the plane is still up and running.”

  “Are you sure? How do you know this?” Thom said sadly.

  “It was part of the old plan. Gen Colec and the others in the past. They had a crazy idea. Maybe we can use it, or something similar.”

  “Then I should go.” Thom said.

  “No it won’t work. It has to be me.” Arc said. “Continue with the plan. I promise you, I’ll get her back, Thom. Just get to the rendezvous.”

  The line went dead and they stood around on the snow as the gunshots rang out from within the gorge. The whole crevice between the peaks was now dancing with light as the robots slowly pushed the soldiers back toward their dropships.

  Thom looked at the others, and Randall shrugged.

  “I’m at a loss. Even If we get into orbit the motherships could still tear us apart. What do you think, Thom?” Randall said.

  The people looked at Thom as he closed his eyes and held his head back.

  “I think...” he said gently, letting the drizzle land on his face. “I think I’d rather die up there, than spend another minute in this place. So I guess you’re either with me… or not.”

  Randall nodded at the others, and together they turned and ran off into the darkness. The white door slowly closed behind them.

  Arc ran from the tower to where his battered sports car was parked at the nature observatory, and then drove up and across the biosphere toward Old Gang Central.

  He stopped at a station realizing his car was out of gas, and patiently glided around the old fashioned pumps. It was a platform of opaque glass with an open top just off the main tubes of the highway, and situated more or less over the edge of the sea.

  He held the nozzle into his car as the fuel slowly poured in and smiled as he listened to the gentle lashing of the waves below. The wind blew through what remained of his hair and he enjoyed the feeling of it, remembering such feelings.

  Just then he heard a screech, and turning he looked at a familiar face running toward him.

  "You dirty bastard!" the young boy that had yelled at him through the window in South Syndicate village a year ago was now standing before him pointing at him accusingly.

  "Excuse me?" Arc said.

  "You came after me! You killed them all!" he yelled, catching the attention of his family, who indeed looked to be large enough for the boy to not fear many people he would fool around with.

  As his enormously built family began marching at him across the station grounds, Arc sighed.

  The boy squealed out at he flew out over the side of the station, and then plummeted to his death on the beach.

  Stunned, his family watched as Arc produced a gun and fired one shot down into the pump beside them.

  It didn't explode, but began to glow and then caught fire slightly.

  Shaken by it all they turned and ran away onto the highways, while Arc got back into his car and tore away after them.

  He passed them where they ran and then behind him the station burst into a high plume of flames, that backed up into the tubes slightly, but not far enough to harm anyone.

  He drove down into the sea and then into the seabed tunnel leading down toward Old Gang Central. The car drove at speed out of the tunnel and seeing that the direction he wanted to go was already blocked off by colony droids and Border Security vehicles he turned the opposite way.

  "Infraction unacceptable!" a deep robotic voice boomed out over the dark street.

  Arc skidded down the highway junctions to the ground level. He flew down onto the dark main street, then turned the car into one of the old mall windows and crashed into the deserted shopping precinct.

  He drove fast over the chipped and potholed tiles to the far side then crashed through the already half broken screen doors.

  With the Old Gang party dead ahead he let the car leap out in its own momentum over the packed waste grounds.

  The car crashed down into the first of the crowd, cutting through the drugged up junkies. The powerful engines ploughed them brutally out of the way with a few rolling onto the bonnet and bouncing off the roof of the car.

  There wasn’t far to go around the side of the grounds to the lane leading into the abandoned factory district, and the door to the outside.

  As he tore the last of them out of the way the whole congregation of thou
sands became enraged, shouting in righteous chorus, and began running after the now hated sports car.

  The car reached the main street again just behind the Border Sec blockade, and seemingly unaware of what he had done he entered the tunnel to the factories. Arc crashed through a stack of tires blocking the way, and raced on into the next district.

  The army of angry junkies reached the narrow lane behind and began falling over each other in an attempt to clamber through. They gave chase as the car sped along and through to the factory zone beyond.

  As he neared the tall door in the dome wall he cut the engines, and in the absence of the growl only the distant screams of the pursuing crowd could be heard, and the confused wailing of the Border Sec sirens.

  Unphased, he took the car alongside the outer wall in the direction of the ramp leading to the tall doorway, that he now saw was open with an enormous guard standing sentry within.

  He didn’t seem to be expecting company, and was actually looking away while attempting to reroll a turban.

  Arc let the car hit the ramp and jump slightly up into the doorway, clipping the fat man with force and causing him to yelp out momentarily before hitting the ground unconscious.

  With the car at a safe stop in the doorway Arc got out. The sounds of the hundreds of junkies could be heard entering the factory district on the far side, so Arc knew to be quick.

  Arc, who had very little time left, ran over to the dusty bikes that were leaning against the wall. It was the same bike he had used to journey to the other dome, and on kicking the pedal he found it was still fully working.

  The engine growled out and Arc released the clutch. He sped out of the door and down the street along the outer wall away from the crazy army, wheelying so to accelerate faster.

  The security cameras followed the bike as it sped Southward through districts, mounting the eastern highways as soon as he was able.

  “Don’t lose him.” Nash said as he, Dane Angell and Chester Barron watched the monitors.

  They watched as the cameras tracked the bike through district after district along the outskirts of the city.