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Chapter 8
Wade found himself speeding across the open ocean in a lightweight semi-enclosed transport with a slightly rattled looking Chuck Jameson.
"I hate those damn training sessions, you know," Charles said finally. He had been quiet for most of the trip but now as he looked over the vast ocean in the late afternoon light he seemed to come slowly back to life like re-hydrated bacteria.
"Then why do it?" Wade asked.
Charles looked back to the other man, eyes heavy with exhaustion, "So you've really never had a tour of the city before huh?" he said, ignoring Wade's question.
Wade shook his head as he looked out over the front of the ship. The spray and salty air had a calming effect on his nerves.
"I guess that's what happens when you're the only one to survive your planet hey?" Charles said.
Wade turned away from the other man, crossing his arms tightly against his chest.
"So how's training with Kylan going?" Charles asked.
"He mostly just checks in on me here and there," Wade shrugged, "I should be through the aptitude testing soon and able to start some kind of service."
Charles slowly raised the transport from the surface of the water as a large landmass came barrel-assing into view. The front dome of the transport slid sleekly down to cover the cabin as they picked up speed. "You know," he said, "I think you're the first person I've ever seen manage to have a real conversation with Kylan in a long time. Maybe ever."
Wade watched as a maze of teetering buildings came up fast under the ship as they sped high above the precariously balanced structures jutting out at odd angles. He hugged his arms tighter, "Really?" he asked.
Charles' tone became more formal as a singular giant pillar loomed high into view, "Over there," he said, pointing to the immense building that dwarfed all the others, "That's the main city ring."
Wade could see nothing special about it except for the shower of light that danced and spun around the tower as it rose higher above into the clouds. "That huge building is the entire inner city?" he asked incredulously.
Charles nodded, "Its amazing."
"Really?"
"Just wait till you see the inside."
As they progressed closer to the building, Wade watched the indistinct spheres of light become clear and crisp.
One sphere of light detached from the rest, speeding forward at an unbelievable rate. Wade's body instinctively reacted as panic tore quickly through his system. In an instant he tumbled out of the way as the sphere passed cleanly through the side of the ship and out the other side. For a split-second he thought he could see a frumpish looking woman sitting in the white sphere looking perfectly calm.
"Wade?" Charles called from the front of the ship. "Are you ok back there?" Wade was cowering in the far corner of the ship, every muscle tensed and ready to burst, heart hammering in his chest.
"Ahh... Yeah," he said, walking shakily back to the front of the ship as Charles landed expertly on a platform jutting out from the massive building. The hum and dim blue glow of the engines slowly died away.
"Relax," Charles looked back to the other man with a half smile, "that kind of thing happens all the time."
Wade nodded, his body gradually returning normal as the adrenaline rush from the almost-collision faded. As the two men exited the ship, Wade noticed that the platform ended abruptly where it butted up against the building. The wall had no doors of any kind; it was a sheer wall of interlocking white metal tiles.
"Ahh, how do we -?"
Chuck smirked, holding up a hand. He snapped it twice and a dull blue sphere appeared from the wall and floated over. "Two please," he said.
Wade watched as the ball shimmered and changed colour, expanding into a translucent white sphere that twisted open on one side to allow the men to walk inside. When they stood inside, the sphere once more twisted shut before rising several feet into the air.
"This is really cool." Charles smiled, touching a floating panel that appeared to be made of nothing more substantial than light. Wade watched as the ship and the entire landing platform faded from view only to soon be replaced by a multitude of floating pictures swirling all around in a giant spiral.
"Behold the inside of Union city," Charles beamed, gesturing to the expansive floating array of minute pictures in the distance. The pictures were hexagonally shaped panels that writhed around in a jumbled maelstrom.
As Wade's eyes surveyed the alien atmosphere around him his head began to pulsate and ache. "Ugh," he winced, squinting his eyes and touching his temple gingerly.
"Oh, that's normal," Charles said, touching the controls and moving their sphere up and along the far side of the massive internal space. "The city works on similar principles of spatial folding, just like our interplanetary transport ships. It can make you feel a little sick the few first times."
Charles touched the again screen and in response the images in the centre shifted and rearranged to form an interlacing corridor of modules and pictures in a three-dimensional structure that seemed to hang in thin air. "We're moving our molecules through various pocket dimensions that are grounded and moderated by Unity itself." He pointed to a row of shops and Wade could see people walking inside and browsing through objects of all sizes and shapes. "We can arrange any combination of dimensional segments with a flick of the controls and move through them at our leisure."
Wade's stomach lurched. He felt sick.
"It's really quite amazing isn't it?" Charles smiled.
"Y... yeah," Wade swallowed hard. "Ugh. Can we go some place a little more normal Chuck?"
The other man shrugged, "Sure thing." Charles touched the control pad and the sphere of light dropped downwards in a loose, spiralling motion. Wade leaned forward and rested his hand on the cool material of the transport globe, his other hand clutching his stomach tightly.
As they came to a stop, Wade watched as several hexagonal blooms rose up and filled his vision. Each shape was translucent and shimmered with an unnatural light before dancing upwards and spinning quickly. As the hexagons faded they were replaced one by one by large, gnarled trees covered in peach blossoms.
Wade stumbled out of the glistening white transport globe and sank to his knees. "Ugh," he groaned.
Charles shrugged as the module shrank back into a small sphere of light. He palmed the ball saying, "You'll get used to it."
"I think I'll stick to the outer ring of the city," Wade muttered as he spat weakly on the ground.
"Sorry? What?" Charles asked, throwing the ball up and catching it again.
"Never mind." Wade replied, standing slowly back up. "Is there much left to see on this tour?"
Charles brightened, "Of course," he smiled, "There's the inter dimensional public gardens, there's the industrial and business districts. Then there's the museums and of course -"
Wade dropped to his kneeds again and noisily emptied his stomach all over the crisp green grass. "Maybe something a bit shorter Chuck," he gasped, his now empty stomach still reflexively clenching as he tried to speak.
"Well, alright," Charles said slowly, "If that's really what you want. But first we should go pay Unity a quick visit."
After a second, Wade finally nodded, getting back to his unsteady feet. While waiting for Charles to work the small sphere, Wade looked out to the far trees. He could see people walking, running, or simply sitting and talking amongst the trees. The people looked slightly translucent and ethereal as they faded slowly, some passing through seemingly solid objects with ease.
Both men turned and entered the re-expanded transport globe. High above Wade could still see the ever-swirling mass of hexagonal floating pictures.
"How do you feed all of these people?" Wade asked as the scene vanished into millions of little shattered hexagons. The globe sped quickly upwards, spiralling slightly as it climbed higher and higher with surprising speed. Wade clutched his stomach as the ship rounded a particularly perilous loop.
Charles pointed directly upwards. At the top of the tower, Wade could see a large black dome that was fastened on four sides with another black material that ran the length of the inside of the tower.
"That black thing?" Wade asked.
"Not that," Charles sighed, rolling his eyes. "There, just beyond the control centre. You can see the second moon through the dimensionally shifted outer structure of the tower." The sphere was fast approaching the top at breakneck speed. "We have a whole system of interconnecting trade routes that feed resources to us via systems set up on all of our four moons." Resources are shipped to each of the four moons and they're slipped through the planetary shielding at regular intervals."
"Isn't that dangerous with the infection spreading to more worlds?" Wade asked. They had now passed through the solid top of the tower and were circling the gleaming, black control centre. With each circle they made, Wade's vision pulsed as new waves of nausea hit him like storm-waves smashing on a break-water.
"Not really," the other man replied. He touched another function on the panel and the transport globe drifted silently over to a slight depression in the black dome. "Unity monitors all of the trade functions through the spatial folding stations for any signs of infection or tampering. It's really quite foolproof."
"I bet," Wade said quietly, not fully convinced.
The globe dipped slowly down towards the depression in the dome. Within moments the sphere passed through the solid gleaming black material and into an expansive room below. The room had a large central reflective sphere that was itself partially sunk into the floor. As both men entered the room the transport globe glittered once before becoming a dull blue ball in Charles' hand once more. Instead of falling into the room below, both men slowly glided to the floor.
"This is odd," Wade said, looking around. Above the sphere in the centre of the room were millions of little threads of light that were being weaved together before each vanished gradually into the sphere's unbroken surface.
"This is Unity." Charles gestured at it proudly. "Isn't he amazing?"
"He?"
"Just wait, you'll see. Unity," he called, smiling. "Unity are you active?"
Wade looked at the other man quizzically. He was just about to say something before movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. The interweaved light above the globe flared brightly, each strand suddenly veering upwards, coalescing in a kaleidoscope of brilliant colour. The strands formed upwards into a large mass before a pulse of energy rose quickly up the sphere and through the strands, pulling out their colour and blasting a brilliant silver light through the room. Wade put up a hand to shield his eyes from the glare.
"What is your concern?" a hollow voice asked. Wade looked up, startled by the strange voice. Above the globe floated a hollow being of light and shadow. Its face was a dull facsimile of humanity with lifeless circular eyes of golden light and an expressionless mouth. Strands of its short hair shifted lazily as if caught by a stray current of invisible water.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Charles whispered, transfixed.
Wade was at a loss for words as he looked at the being floating before him. "It looks sort of like some of the old sculptures from my planet," he said finally. As he stared at the creature something at the back of his mind struggled in vain to break the surface of his thoughts. Something about Unity looked oddly familiar.
"What is your primary concern?" Unity repeated with a slight inflection evident in its voice. Its body had an interlacing structure of silver and dark strands that seemed to hold the creature together. Its strong humanoid features were blurred slightly and shimmered as Unity itself gave off a steady and brilliant glow of light.
Charles cleared his throat, "Unity, this is Wade. Wade err..." he said turning back to the other man.
"...Chartrand," Wade finished for him, smiling slightly.
"Right, right," Charles waved Wade off quickly, "Anyway, can you give him the quick tour of the city?" he asked, looking expectantly at the silver humanoid form.
"Understood." Unity nodded once. "Welcome to the planet Nocwen, forth planet from the central star in the Cereus system." The room shimmered for a moment as a large number of hexagons appeared from nowhere and formed an image of the local galaxy. A brilliant star appeared to the side of the room while Unity's globe became the planet itself. Around the room, various other planets lazily traced their paths around the sun. Millions of stars glinted with pinpoint precision in the distance; Wade could even see many small moons of ice orbiting the nearby planets.
"You are currently in the capital city of Union, within the central city hub to be precise," the creation of light and shadow continued. "The city was founded nearly seven hundred solar rotations ago," it continued, as the room once more changed to become a small-scale representation of Union city. Wade watched as structures built up from humble beginnings to the impressive citadel it was now, as if guided by seemingly invisible hands.
"Amazing," Charles said, almost to himself.
The floating silver being continued, "Union city was created only within the last century with the addition of the centralized planetary care system known as Unity. Unity monitors and maintains vital city and planetary functions and activities. It is the primary and irrevocable function of Unity to act within the best interests of both the planet and its inhabitants at all times."
"The many creators of this miraculous creature were a little strange don't you think, Wade?" Charles said, his arms were folded against his chest and he was leaning back slightly as if to take in the whole room all at once.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they created something so amazing yet they put in foolish limitations to its programming. I mean, why bother limiting Unity to one planet?"
"It can't leave?"
Charles nodded, "He can never leave us. I guess that's a good thing though isn't it? No one can take him from us then."
Wade was only partially listening. He walked through the rapidly growing city like some kind of gargantuan overseer or destructive monster. Wade paused, marvelling at what an intact city looked like. Having spent so long crawling through the decayed ruins of his people, he had almost forgotten what it looked like - what it felt like. As he passed through the buildings, his fingers gently slid along the side of a dark building. Wade was shocked to find it solid and warm. He stopped and looked out over the landmass, trying in vain to see any sign of the familiar military base in the distance. His heart constricted and the colouring of his cheeks rose slightly as his mind wandered for several moments.
The growing city stopped momentarily. One by one, the little hexagons started dropping from the air, causing the city to shudder and spasm violently. Wade could see small explosions and flashes of chained light spark from the structures as the whole city began to implode.
Unity stopped, "Localized system corruption found," it announced. The silver being sputtered and convulsed above the sphere. The whole vision crashed, as the original room came back into view the little hexagons fell to the floor like millions of tiny shards of broken glass, swiftly disappearing back into the nothingness they had originally come from.
"Unity!" Charles gaped, "Unity, what's the matter?"
"Local... error... detected," It said slowly. "Rerouting local projection units, please stand by." The creature itself convulsed once more before it too exploded into a spray of silver light and hexagons.
Charles sank to his knees, his face pale and words suddenly uncertain. "This..... this is... This has never happened before," he said, his voice hoarse.
Wade shifted nervously on his feet, "I..." he paused, "I'm sorry Charles." Placing a hand on the other man's shoulder, "What'll happen now?"
"Unity will deal with the problem himself," Charles said in a strange monotone voice.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
Charles just stared blankly at the Unity's sphere in the middle of the room. The multicoloured threads of light were now gone. Instead, the sphere rippled slowly from top to bottom as if struck by invisible stray droplets of water.
"I know," Wade said, "Why don't you have a drink with all of us at the pub? You know, to get your mind off of this?" he said. "I'm sure that the program will reroute itself like it said."
Charles pulled his shoulder from Wade's touch, "I can't leave at a time like this!" he snapped.
"But you said it yourself, what can we do?"
"I can stay and wait," he said firmly, placing one hand on the sphere. He fished the pale blue ball of light from his pocket and threw it back to Wade. It grew back into the now familiar transport globe as it sailed through the air. "You can take this back to the pub," he said through clenched teeth.
"Aren't you coming later?"
"No, he said sharply, "I'm staying here." He turned back to the sphere, "Tell it to take you to the Officer's bar on Charleston boulevard. It should go right there."
"Look Charles, you should come and try to relax," Wade offered, but the other man clearly wasn't listening. Wade shrugged, and climbed into the globe, which launched itself smoothly into the air and out of the room.
As the globe sped over the building tops Wade's mind kept watching the city slowly dissolve over and over again.
He was ripped from his thoughts as an alarm sounded loudly inside of the small transport globe.
"Critical localized error detected," Unity's voice sounded. "All compromised equipment will cease to function immediately." The globe shook violently, catapulting Wade back and forth. With one final lurch, Wade felt it begin to drop at an alarming velocity. His stomach crept up into his throat as the sphere started to lose its consistency, becoming a gelatinous falling blob of pale white goo. Gravity was now in full control and a nearby building loomed precariously quickly into view.
"Oh Shit."
************************************************************************ Author's Note:
Again my thanks to Kane for a fantastic job at making my writing readable :D.
I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. Feed back (good or bad) is always welcome (corporeal09@yahoo.com)
Cheers,
-Gene