Ascent

by Thorby Rudbek

  Eric walked around the ‘turret’ and returned to the road-facing side of Citadel, wondering over and over, how living beings could just walk through solid rock. He stepped back from the cold surface and stared at it, as if his concentration would somehow reveal the interior details, where all the technological attempts had failed.

  But there’s no reflection! Kirouac thought, his mind remembering the many views he had seen of this strange structure. Where now he would have expected street lighting to have been mirrored from such a glass-like finish, all was still so dark as to almost defy any focusing on the surface.

  Just as I thought, Ed sighed quietly as the young marine continued to explore the surface of the structure. We’re being ignored again. He looked at Brisson as she relaxed and returned her attention to her sensitive analytical machines. She’s really much more comfortable with them than with her colleagues. He walked back to his desk to start on the latest addition to his report, still wrestling with the uncertainties that surrounded this incident and the others that he had investigated recently. The idiosyncrasies of his staff were soon forgotten as he compared and contrasted the known elements of each event, one moment convinced that they were unconnected, and the next, that they were all part of some master plan that was beyond his comprehension.

  Judy fussed over her equipment, unwilling to admit to herself that a very small part of her was flattered by Eric’s rather primal interest in her. I always thought of my legs as being fat. Most of her was annoyed, and she concentrated on that. Still, he did go right up to that mysterious thing and check out the door. She wondered why she had not expected him to be attracted by her body. She knew she was strong and fit, and that her legs were toned from scuba diving with flippers, but an inherent enthralment was something surprising. I’m not that great looking. She shook her head silently and tried to push this development onto the backburner of her consciousness.

  As she contemplated the surprising turn of events which loomed more conspicuously in her mind, she felt diminished, perhaps even personally insulted by her error in deducing that the structure was solid, and therefore incapable of concealing anyone within it. She vowed not to repeat her mistake, and redoubled her efforts, pushing her personal life further into the background. Eric’s actions were soon forgotten, buried under the uncertainties of their investigative work, spurned for the simpler and safer-feeling subjects that she had hidden herself inside for the last few years.

  Kirouac found himself in front of the door to the mysterious structure once again and felt its featureless surface one more time. He found nothing. Finally, he looked up at the battlements, just a jagged silhouette against the stars. He wondered for the hundredth time how it could be possible for people to pass through such a solid, rock-like substance. He also wondered if his actions would have put him into a better light with Judy.

  It was only a leg! Why should I care what she thinks? She’s just a weird, repressed woman! Somehow his assessment failed to satisfy him; he felt diminished, too, his own worth lessened in some inexplicable way, though he would soon deny he ever had such feelings. He could not allow himself to consider that a very private kind of human now had a lower opinion of him, because of his long, lustful gaze of self-gratification. Maybe it’s all insignificant compared with this. He ran his hand over the cold, smooth surface one more time, then walked slowly around the turret and back down the slope, contemplating on the appearance and purpose of the two who strode so boldly past him while he lay back on his chair and simply, slept.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Solar variations impact the farthest orbiting planets – Idahnian

  Richard dimmed the main lights of his newly acquired vehicle as the beams of light from an oncoming one swung around the curve ahead. He had turned onto highway ninety-five about an hour previously, heading southwest, parallel to the coast, towards Boston.

  I don’t think we’ll go through the city, he concluded, reaffirming their earlier decision, after a moment’s thought. Though the idea of passing through such familiar territory was hard to resist, he had weighed the risks with Karen and they had concluded that they would move faster by staying out of the big city. And we should stay out in the open, because there are less people to see us. The next moment, his grip on the wheel became vice-like, as an Armoured Personnel Carrier flashed past, followed by a second, and then a third APC in quick succession. Moments later, a tank transporter whooshed by, then another. A large gun, probably anti-aircraft, came next, and after it, a seemingly endless stream of army trucks and vehicles of various shapes and sizes.

  Richard glanced down at Karen; she was still sound asleep against his shoulder. “Tutor?” he murmured quietly. “Can you see this?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “What’s happening back at Citadel?”

  “There are several people visible on the road near the observation vehicle, and some more, further up the road towards your aunt’s house. Another person is standing in the wooded area behind Citadel. More significantly, one of the men from the observation truck went up to Citadel and ran his hands over the entrance a few minutes after you left the gas station. His face was covered with some kind of darkener, as were his hands. He appeared very cautious on his approach; he came through the trees to the North, crawling over the grass and through the bushes, but he touched the outer surface of the Scout Craft and stood up, running his hands over the area through which you exited. Then he checked out the entire perimeter of Citadel without any attempt at concealment, and returned, walking openly around Citadel and down to the fence afterwards.”

  “Army types! The ones in the truck must be from the army,” Richard concluded. “Can you provide a logical explanation for these events, and the army trucks that are passing me right now?” he questioned with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

  “There is a very high probability that your escape has been discovered. Standard military procedure would be to seal off the area and post armed guards.”

  “I didn’t think it would take very long, though I did hope... Will they attack Citadel?” Richard asked, nervously.

  “If they do, I will be able to maintain the defensive systems without difficulty... unless they use nuclear weapons; more power than is available through the auxiliary power system would be needed in that event.”

  “Whatever they do,” Richard continued, only slightly reassured by Tutor’s understated confidence. “It’s gonna be darn near impossible to break through the wall of men and machines that they will build around Citadel, even if we do manage to get the beryllium.” He drove on silently, promising himself that he would attempt the impossible, even if he died trying. His commitment to Karen was now total.

  Despite her proximity to him, her exhaustion was such that she slept on, oblivious to his anxieties; in any case, her confidence in his abilities was not troubled or diminished by any practical limitations or considerations.

  What was that about my aunt? Richard thumped his hand on the steering wheel in frustration at himself as he recalled his much earlier intention to communicate with her, so she would not worry about his failure to return home at the end of the day. When was that? And she still hasn’t heard from me! He sat and fumed, driving on in silence for a while, considering how he could inform her of his safety, without jeopardizing their mission. Finally he came up with an idea, and contacted Tutor to make the arrangements.

  As the last of the army vehicles finally passed by, the small grey unit on the roof of the car completed its visual report to Tutor, summarizing the numbers and types of weapons represented, and Tutor began to review all the defensive capabilities of the aging, but still potent, Citadel.

  ***

  Karen awoke as the dawn broke at the end of a long but light period of rain; the road gleamed and the sunshine reflected off the surface and into her sleepy eyes. She looked up at Richard’s face, noticing his bloodshot eyes immediately.

  “Oh, I should have taken a turn at driving by now; you must be so
tired,” she said, apologetically.

  “No, I’m fine, really,” he insisted. “Anyway, I thought you needed to recover your strength after all the hard work you did last night. It’s only fair; you put so many people to sleep, then it was your turn.”

  Karen smiled, but Richard missed seeing the dimples that he found so attractive, as he kept his weary eyes on the road. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

  “I recommend that you change vehicles in the next town.” Tutor broke through the peaceful mood abruptly. “It’s likely that the theft of this vehicle has now been discovered by the investigators in Redcliff.”

  Karen got updated on the events of the night, but did not seem to find the idea of an army blockade too stressful – perhaps in part because they were still heading away from it at this point.

  Richard signalled and took the exit from the highway a few minutes later, then drove into the sleepy downtown area. Acting on impulse, he turned up a side street, managing the change down to second gear without any grinding sounds.

  A little way up the street, he spotted an old house with a decrepit ‘for sale’ sign sagging crazily to one side on the weed-infested lawn. He glanced at Karen; she smiled and squeezed his shoulder with the hand that she had rested there since the moment she had awakened. Richard depressed the clutch and slipped the car into neutral as he turned onto the gravel and mud driveway and pulled up outside the ancient garage. He jerked up the handbrake and got out, walking quickly to the double doors of the garage.

  After some effort, he managed to lift the left-hand door up off the ground, where it had sagged, and swing it out of the way. He repeated the process for the other door, then jumped back, surprised, as the sound of the car engine revving up coincided with it pulling smoothly into the dark interior. The car lurched forward slightly as the clutch came up, and the engine quit abruptly, leaving a silence rapidly filled by the morning chorus of birds.

  Karen hopped out and lifted the unobtrusive but invaluable box from the roof as she walked out into the sunshine, smiling broadly.

  “I didn’t know you could drive!” Richard looked at her with admiration.

  “Yeah!” She flushed and tried to close one of the garage doors. “I wasn’t sure, so I asked Tutor if I could,” she explained vaguely, as he took over the task.

  As they walked down the driveway and turned onto the road, Richard glanced around. It appeared that there was no one in the vicinity to witness their actions, so he relaxed a little, taking the small but heavy unit from Karen as she proffered it to him, and putting it in the crook of his right arm.

  “We’re doing a pretty good job of breaking the laws of the land, you know.” He smiled at her to reassure her that he understood and accepted the reasoning behind their actions. “Arson, truancy, unauthorised phone services, theft of an automobile, gas and food, driving without a licence or insurance.” He counted them off on the fingers of his left hand, and then he caught her right hand in his and continued by using her fingers. The sensation of energy transference during the physical contact was less than it had been, but still very noticeable.

  “Food?” She looked at him, puzzled by his statement. “But we haven’t stolen any food.”

  “Not yet!” Richard smacked his lips in anticipation.

  “We may need to do much more than that,” Karen laughed brightly, “to ensure that Citadel doesn’t fall into the hands of the unprepared or worse still, the greedy,” she qualified wisely. “You just have to know, like I do, that this is more important than countless school, cars, or licences. She squeezed his hand. “More important than many, many lives.”

  “I think I’m finally beginning to understand that, now.”

  She looked at him, sadness showing in her blue, blue eyes. More important than our lives. She felt certain that he had picked up on her personal priorities, then saw that he had indeed caught her thought, as there was a slight change in his expression.

  Neither of them said anything for a while; they just walked along, hand in hand, contemplating their uncertain future, and marvelling at the peacefulness of the moment. On the next street they saw an old car with licence plates that expired at the end of September, parked behind a newer, cleaner model.

  Richard noticed the word ‘automatic’ on the back of the old car and pointed it out to Karen. “This will probably do the job. Is anybody watching?”

  Karen ran her mind over the surrounding houses, but found no one at home and awake, other than one middle-aged man eating breakfast alone in the kitchen at the back of his house, and a younger woman, who was in her shower, behind frosted glass, just across the street from him.

  “I think it’s okay,” she announced, as the grey in her eyes faded back to blue once more.

  Richard used the remote unit to gain access, and pulled open the door, intending to reach over and unlock the passenger side from within as he had done the previous night, but Karen slipped into the driver’s seat as soon as the door was open wide enough for her slight body to fit.

  “Hey, I...,” Richard began, but he stopped himself and walked around. As he did so, he heard a click as Karen unlocked the door for him. Why not? She knows as much as I do about it! He climbed in and buckled up.

  “Just give me directions to get me back to the highway, then you can sleep,” she promised him.

  Richard smiled in admiration as she reached for the box and held it close to the steering column. The engine started first time, and ticked over enthusiastically. Karen climbed back out and placed the box on the roof, beating him once again, as he fumbled with his seatbelt and tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.

  Karen listened as Tutor updated her, through her earpiece, on automatic gearshifts, then she selected ‘drive’ and turned the wheel hastily as the mechanism kicked in, jerking them forwards. She glanced over her shoulder as the car swung out, just missing the newer one in front. “So you’re hungry, huh?” she reminded him as he sank back in the worn but soft seat.

  “Maybe later,” he muttered. “Oh, take the right at the end and drive through the town centre; you’ll see the highway right after that.”

  “Then what do I do?” Karen tried to pick the information up from his mind, but he was so close to sleep that everything she could read seemed blurry.

  “Go west.”

  Karen nodded and pulled out of the side road onto the main road through the town. There was a little more traffic than there had been on the way in, but she found it easy enough to handle, and after a couple of minutes of feeling tense, she found she could relax a little, and that she actually enjoyed the sensation of driving. She pulled onto the highway and glanced at Richard, smiling at his peaceful expression. It was quite a surprise when he spoke again, some significant time later, as she had assumed that he had gone to sleep.

  “Karen, I’ve got something important to tell you. I know I’ve come across as doubting we will succeed, but that’s not how I feel all the time. You should know I’m proud to be involved in this endeavour,” he assured her, his head still resting on the high-backed cushion of the seat. “I’ll protect you with my life, if necessary,” he paused. “But I don’t know if I would be able to kill another human being, even if…”

  Karen glanced at him quickly, then concentrated on the road once more.

  “Whatever you do, I think I know it will be all right. You were sent to me somehow, and I’m very glad you came. The same way I seemed to know you were coming before you arrived, I have also known for a long time that something bad happened, long ago. Now that I’ve seen the records of Commander Vochan, my parents, and the other scouts, I know it happened far from here, far from Earth. It happened in fourteen twenty-six A.D., or soon after. And it was something totally unconnected with the dictatorial disaster that befell the Scouts here on Earth,” she declared, emphatically. “Echoes of that event have not yet been heard here… but they soon will be. I can’t explain how I know–”

  “The security forces are attempting to drill in
to Citadel,” Tutor interrupted Karen abruptly.

  “What!” Karen struggled to bring the car back into the lane after her involuntary response caused the vehicle to swerve a little onto the hard shoulder.

  “The method will not succeed. Do not concern yourselves,” Tutor reassured them, hastily.

  But what will happen next? Richard thought, gloomily, his moment of unrestrained enthusiasm doused effectively by the news. He laid back and tried to sleep, hoping that things would seem brighter, when he was more rested.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Concealed abrupt power changes cause confusion – Ibernal

  Ed Baynes watched the appropriate spot as the laser pulsed at the strange black substance of Citadel’s shell, his eyes protected by dark green goggles. The attempt to observe was actually futile, as the optical density of the filter material was such that the laser beam was rendered completely invisible. In the background, the roar of the huge generator parked half-way up the gravel driveway filled the air with noise, and diesel fumes drifted up towards the impressive example of state-of-the-art Earth technology, which was channelling a narrow beam of intensely bright, coherent light at Karen’s home.

  Judy had partly redeemed herself for her erroneous conclusion about Citadel, at least in her own eyes, by getting one of the most powerful portable – and most secret – lasers in the country to Redcliff soon after dawn. The device itself was only considered portable because it was mounted on a flat-bed three quarter ton truck; driving it up the slope in front of Citadel had not been easy, as could be attested by the deep furrows in the grass, and the mud splattered over the underside of the truck. They had contemplated driving the truck around behind Citadel, to the point where the door had appeared, but decided that it was likely that the structure was as tough there as it was everywhere else, so they had settled for the comparatively easy task of aligning it with the seaward side. The engineers had connected it up to the generator in record time, and then Judy had discovered its mode of operation without much difficulty. She checked the controls once again and confirmed that everything was running at maximum.