Immortal (13 page)

Just past the turn, the hallway dead ended
with another door, Its control panel rested in the wall to the
side. As he approached, the symbols and numbers on this pad were
the same as the last, and without hesitation he tapped in the four
digit code. Four green lights appeared at top of the panel as each
key was depressed, and the door slid open. White blinding light hit
him, and caused him to step back. He blinked and raised his arm to
shield his eyes. A wave of heat poured over him, and he was
accosted by an acrid smell that instantly made him want to gag. He
shielded his senses as much as he could as he stepped to the side
and used the doorway frame to protect him. He gathered himself
against this sensory onslaught, and peered around the corner.
Slowly his eyes adjusted slightly, and he gazed out of the doorway.
There was a huge vast open area, larger than any he had ever seen.
It stretched out as far as he could see in every direction. At the
horizon of his view, straight out of the hallway, loomed a large
building. But from his vantage point he had no way to judge its
actual size. But he didn’t need to. He knew this building, even
from this angle of view that he had never seen. It was the
factory.

His eyes scanned the lines as they came from
each side of the factory, as he recognized the rusted panels and
supporting pillars that bordered the sides of the entrance and exit
roads that connected the factory with the village. His eyes had
begun to adjust to the bright light, as he stepped out of the
hallway into the outside. The hallway delivered him onto a wide
metal scaffolding that ran to the left and right. He checked
quickly in both directions, and assured that he was not being
observed, dropped to a low crouch and made his way to the edge of
the scaffolding. As he approached the edge, he could not believe
his eyes. Over the side was a huge crater, ringed completely by the
road walls. A network of scaffolding ran around the left side of
the crater from the factory, and as he peered further over the
side, he could see that the scaffolding continued in multiple
levels along this side of the crater. Further to his left, he could
see series upon series of large metallic piping as it ran out from
tunnels cut into the side of the crater. It ran down and
disappeared into the floor of the crater. And it was then that he
noticed the smoke. As he looked around, he could see smoke and
steam as it rose from the blackened floor of the massive crater in
all directions.

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw
movement, and quickly dropped prone on the scaffolding. He squinted
slightly to focus his vision towards the motion. It had come from
the left side of the crater, and moved along the scaffolding that
ran from the factory. It appeared to be a large boxy object, and
moved at a slow speed. Then as it came halfway around the crater,
it turned into a large tunnel and disappeared. And once again,
aside from the wisps of smoke that rose from the crater floor,
there was no motion. He noticed what appeared to be a bundle of
pipes that originated from the under side of the scaffolding at the
tunnel, and then continued its way back around towards where he
lay. He rose to his feet from his prone position, and crouch walked
back towards the hallway door. He glanced left and then right, and
he could see that the hallway he had come from was set into the
side of a large building that ran for some distance in both
directions. And there appeared to occasionally be other doors in
the wall, all of which were closed. He hesitated outside, as he
looked for an exterior access panel to the doorway and saw none.
Not even a depression or raised area which may be a contact panel.
It was a one way exit he surmised. He stepped back inside, and felt
the coolness from the inside wash over him.

A few steps inside, he hesitated, stopped,
then turned back to the door and activated the control panel to
close the door. As he rushed back to the intersection, he realized
that though he knew where two of the branches went, he needed to
check the other two as well. He approached the intersection and
stopped and made a mark on the wall using the back end of the
control stick. Satisfied that he would be able to see it later if
needed, he entered the hallway that he had come from originally and
made a similar yet decidedly different mark on the wall there as
well. If, or when, he returned to this intersection, he would know
which hallways he had explored, and where they went. From his
position in the first hallway, he now continued straight across the
intersection and rushed up to the first turn, a left turn. He
stopped and peered around the corner. With the hallway empty, he
ran towards the next turn, which went back to the right. Here he
stopped again, and checked to see that the way was clear. He
continued down this hallway for quite a ways, when he began to hear
sounds. Rhythmic machine like noises that grew louder as he
continued forward. As he came to the end of the hallway, again a
door blocked his way. He quickly tapped out the same code that he
had used on the last door, and the door slid open. Inside,
darkness, and loud whirring sounds. He stepped up to the doorway,
but hesitated, unable to see inside because of the darkness. He
cautiously stepped through, and made sure of his footing before he
fully committed. He stood in the darkness, as the bright light from
the hallway streamed from behind, and his eyes began to adjust
enough to see a maze of pipes that led in every direction. He moved
forward slightly, but still careful of his footing, when suddenly
his right foot almost slipped off of a ledge.

He caught his balance, and crouched down to
look over the edge, but it was too dark to see much more than one
of many series of pipes that ran downward from overhead. The area
was filled with loud whirring and rushing sounds that made it
impossible to hear anything else. He made his way to the right, and
shortly ran into a wall. And based on his earlier exploration, he
surmised that this would be the exterior wall, with the huge crater
on the other side. Series after series of pipes lined the wall and
ran downward. He wondered if these might be the same pipes that he
had seen that had run under the scaffolding earlier. He worked his
way back to the left, and was able to see much better now that his
eyes had adjusted to the darkness, even with the small amount of
illumination provided by the open doorway. He passed by the
doorway, and came to a portal in the side wall. He peered through,
and could see some of the cause of the loud sounds that he had
heard. In the faint light, he could see a stack of relatively flat
objects, which one by one, were being mechanically be lifted from
the stack, placed on a small rail, and from above a square like
object with flexible hoses that led to the top, came down and
deposited some substance onto the tray.

“The serving wall.” He said, as he realized
that what he watched were the serving trays as they were filled one
by one, and then slid away on the rail. He was watching the meal
serving process from behind the serving wall. The pipes must
contain the meal itself, being piped in from outside. He stepped
back towards the doorway, and mentally organized all that he had
seen, and tried to meld that with the world that he knew. From his
escape from the interrogation room earlier, and what he knew from
his interrogation, he knew that the huge building that he was now
in housed the control center, and now he realized that it also
housed the meal room. As he began to think of the village layout,
he realized that this one huge building only appeared to be
separate buildings in the village. As he crossed the threshold of
the doorway, and activated the door closing mechanism, he thought
of the last hallway from the intersection that he had yet to
explore. It would lead toward the village, but from memory he knew
there were no buildings or doorways there, just a high blank wall.
What must be the outside wall of the building that he was in now.
Could this be where Quarantine was? Right here in the village? But
what about the plague? He thought as he reached the intersection,
made a tiny mark on the wall, and turned into the last hallway.

He rushed down the corridor to the first turn
and peered around. He again saw the way was clear, and rushed to
the next turn. After several more turns, he came to another
intersection, with his options either leading left or right. He
peered down both hallways. The coast was clear, and he turned left
and headed to the next turn. As he peered around this turn, he saw
a Guardian ahead as it stepped through a doorway on the right side
of the hallway. He gripped his control stick tightly and began
slowly to make his way towards the doorway. He hugged the right
wall as he progressed. Just before he reached the doorway, he
realized that there was a doorway on the left side of the wall
which was open. He moved stealthily across the hall to the edge of
that door, and glanced ahead at the door that the Guardian had gone
through. He could see no sign of it. He turned and rushed into the
open doorway beside him.

There she lay. Her hair lay in a puddle
around her face, which was turned away from him. Her helpless naked
body strapped to the bed. A hideous multi armed machine hovered
over her. Its many arms clicked as motors whirred. Two of its
sinister looking manipulators held open the huge gaping wound that
ran the entire length of her chest. Blood dripped from the round
jagged edge blade above. Another arm rapidly sliced apart the
delicate internal organs of his beloved. Jericho’s face went white.
His heart ached. His fear exploded as he rushed the horrible
machine. He dropped the control stick and grabbed the arm that cut
at her and tried with every ounce of his strength to pull it away
from her poor mangled fragile body. The sound turned to that of a
whine as the machine fought to complete its motion. Rage filled
Jericho as he pulled, and suddenly the arm came free. Up and out of
her chest, as it was ripped off its connecting rod, and he tumbled
to the floor. He landed hard with the now immobile arm in his
hands. Without hesitation, another mechanical arm went quickly into
motion, in an effort to complete the task at hand. The machine
ignored Jericho’s presence as it inserted the second sharp tipped
arm directly into her chest cavity and began to slice. At once
Jericho reached down and grabbed the control stick from the floor,
and then jammed it upward to make contact with the extended arm of
the machine. Blue sparks flew, and the machine ceased to move
immediately. She convulsed once, the arc from the control rod
having traveled through the metallic arm, and into her from its
contact with her flesh. Her back arched with the power, and then
she slumped back to the bed.

Jericho rose slowly, as he trembled. His eyes
now filled with tears as he looked at her. At what they had done to
her. Immense sadness flooded his veins as he looked at her poor
broken figure. At the drips of her blood that had ran down her
sides onto the white sheet. At the horrible arms that held open her
chest, as they bared her insides to the metallic beast. Through his
tears he could see the paleness of her skin, and a deep dark hatred
began to boil throughout him. A pain so deep, that death could not
end it. A stark raving lunacy of retribution began to overcome him,
as he screamed.

“No!” He yelled, as he attempted to touch
her, to hold her. He reached around and through the awful
contraption that had taken her life. “No.” He sobbed, and gently
reached to her face, and brushed her hair away.

“Nessa!” He called. “Are you ready yet?”
Jonah checked his appearance in the mirrored wall of the spacious
bathroom one last time. He reached up and adjusted the cravat at
his throat again, and finally decided that it was fine. He left the
bathroom. Behind him, the lights turned themselves off as he walked
across the vast living area, and headed for the kitchen. “Nessa!”
He yelled again, as he opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle
of clear liquid. He snapped off the cap, took a long drink, and
then exhaled. He took another sip. “Hey! Nessa!” He called out
again.

“Relax, Jonah!” A voice yelled back. “I’m
almost ready!” Jonah took another sip, and sat the bottle down on
the large island in the middle of the kitchen.

“Me, me, me, me, me.” He sang in a rich
baritone. “Fa, la, la, la, la.” He continued. Then his voice shot
straight up into an alto range, “Vanessa, my love. Are you ready?”
He sang, as he lingered sweetly on the last note. He stepped back
into the living area, and passed by the video wall which featured
two ladies as they apparently had an animated discussion, however
there was no sound. Beneath their images, a ticker scrolled by that
gave the latest information on the subject that was discussed. He
ignored the muted conversation, and continued to walk through the
spacious living area towards the window wall, where bright sunlight
streamed in. As he approached the glass wall, one of the panels
suddenly slid to the side. He stepped out onto the large covered
patio, and continued past the numerous pieces of furniture, to the
railing at the far side. As he leaned against the railing, he put
his left foot up on the lowest part of the rail. He reached into
his tunic, and withdrew a small elbow shaped device. He brought it
to his lips, and inhaled deeply. He hesitated a moment, and then
exhaled a cloud on bluish smoke, as he sang softly.

“Me, me, me, me, me.” He scanned the walkways
far beneath him, but paid little attention to the few people that
walked by below. As he smoked he just enjoyed the overall view of
the space between the large buildings. He enjoyed the smoothness of
the spotless concrete which covered the walkway, and the adjacent
buildings. He saw, and waived to someone in the building across the
way, as the man too, blew out a cloud of smoke.