Chapter 8
The tunnel opened up to a view of crumbled and destroyed buildings, not fresh carnage from recent attacks. No, this was a long history of violence that left countless scars layered through a multitude of ages; scars so deep that the abused city was unrecognizable as any sort of constructive community. This devastated city had the look of a battle weary soldier long since past his prime, unable to muster any sort of fight from its feeble form. Vegetation and trees grew on the ruins. People were traveling matter-of-factly through the scene, which was shocking to my naive eyes; yet to them it was just where they lived, part of their routine, their lot in life.
There was too much to take in.
The four of us stood there, mouths agape, wondering which direction to take.
We were by the riverside; a wide open river. A giant bridge stood in front of us, rising high in the middle of the river broken and collapsed as it tried valiantly to reach the other side of the great river. A great piece of the broken span jutted out from the middle of the river. On both sides were endless ruins as far as the eye could see. Vehicles lined the rubble of the streets; most stripped down to their bare frames, many with hunks of cement crushing their roofs in. It was a view of total devastation, the sun glaring down; brightly displaying the carnage of what was once a city. We walked out to the uneven rubble of ruptured pavement, vegetation growing out of city streets. There were some people walking around, casually at first, then someone spotted us and started pointing; they shuffled off quickly in the other direction.
“Hey,” Andy yelled in his diplomatic manner; and they scurried off even quicker, disappearing into a crevice rupturing a downed building, a quick escape through a haphazard hallway. A large building, that must have once risen majestically to many stories, but now folded over to be a couple of stories of piled cement and broken glass.
“So, this is an Earth city?” Martina said. “I think I prefer the wilderness and strange beasts.”
Just as she spoke, a little furry agile Earth beast screeched as we walked near it. It quickly disappeared down the street, bounding over stones and trees. We watched it run away and noticed the extent of the devastation. The city rose up from the river laying its wounded form across a sloping mountainside. A beautiful spot to build a city, but something had gone terribly wrong. All the way up the hill, most of the buildings were flattened to the ground; while some hardier structures had managed to stay standing, to one extent or another. There were only a few within eyesight that appeared to be in any sort of decent shape.
“Here’s the river,” I said. “The boy wasn’t lying to us.”
“That’s a relief,” Martina said. “I guess the tunnel was originally built to access this river, boat transportation around the Earth.”
“Or maybe to this Earth city,” Andy said, pointing in the other direction. “I don’t know what use it'd be now, look at this place. People actually live here?”
“It’s not pretty,” I said. “We won’t be able to figure it all out now, let’s try and concentrate on what we came here for: to find that camp and these Holy Warriors.”
“If that little bastard was telling us the truth,” Andy said. “We shoulda--”
“We shoulda what?” I said to Andy. “Did you really feel like killing them?”
Andy looked at me and then turned away, grumbling. We all looked down towards the river. This was a much wider river than we had seen in the mountains. I wondered if they were connected. Doug was already down near the banks, awed by this new spiritual master he had found. Even from my point of view, it was a humbling sight. I felt tiny next to the view of such a colossal mass of running water.
“The boy said to keep going in the same direction as when we came out of the tunnel,” Martina said.
She pointed to the opening of the tunnel and continued pointing with her finger, extrapolating down the riverbank. Her arm pointed in the direction we would have to travel, away from the ruined city, down along the riverbank.
Doug was already down by the river, removing his shoes, his feet lapping on the edge of the river. He was kneeling over, his hands caressing the surface of the water, as if divine knowledge was there for the taking.
“Come on Doug, we have to go,” I said.
He hesitated, but saw I was looking right at him and he put his shoes back on, following behind us like a child forced to go on a family shopping trip.
We decided to follow right along the shoreline. It seemed like the easiest path to follow. As we traveled along the shore, there were a lot of ruined buildings, alternately picked apart by parasites or rebuilt in a makeshift manner. At some point in the distant past, the shoreline near the city was probably an area of much activity. Along the shoreline were cracked and broken chunks of cement. Just off shore, there was a gigantic wreckage of a ship. The wreckage stood as a huge monument to failures of the past, rusted metal and green vegetation overtaking the pathetic, colossal structure. There were other boats of various sizes along the shoreline, none of which appeared to be operational. Ironically, our rickety little wooden boat from the wilderness appeared to be far more useful than this pathetic array of watercraft. They all just lay there; the only movement was bobbing and weaving brought on by the river’s current and waves lapping against their broken hulls.
This area near the city was difficult to cross. Near the shore, sometimes the hunks of cement were massive enough to act like sheer cliffs dropping off into the water. We made our way around this first section. The shoreline was erratic, sometimes not easy to walk on. As we traveled on, the shoreline got easier to traverse. The boats and broken boulders of cement were no longer there.
As we moved away from this ancient port, the shoreline was more pristine, adorned with natural rocks of varying sizes, and often there was a nice pebbled beach to serve as a scenic pathway. It was inappropriately relaxing to walk along a level shoreline; the low roar of the river to soothe you. Eventually, the collage of ruined buildings that once passed for a city faded to the background. There were still buildings around in various stages of disrepair, but wilderness was once again taking over the landscape.
“Look at those,” Martina said.
We all stared in wonder at a large group of flying birds. This was the one sort of Earth animal that I had actually heard about. We had seen other birds since arriving, but not this many, this out in the open, with such large wingspans. Birds were the one Earth creature that was popularly known in the space station. They were central to our Earth folklore. We all dreamt of the vast expanse of Earth and all its possible adventures; what better Earth creature to envy than one which could soar and swoop throughout the planet with the greatest of ease. As we continued to walk, the birds seemed to call after us, cawing frenetically as we walked by, calling out to us as if trying to draw us back to the natural order.
For a while, I could see nothing in the distance. The river was quite straight at this point and I could see far down—but nothing--no signs of civilization.
"I think it's gonna be a while," I said.
We walked for hours. This didn't seem quite the way the kid described it. I noticed that as we travelled along, the river started meandering back and forth. The current and roar of the flow seemed to diminish. We were heading inland. The mountains were still ever-present, but the actual riverside was relatively flat and easy to walk along. As we followed the river which was meandering around, I started to see some structures stretching out to the shoreline. It was not a city or a town. It seemed unnatural--isolated and separate. As we approached, I could clearly see a high fence around this desolate enclave. We were approaching along the riverside. While you couldn't call it a beach, the shoreline was wide and exposed. It was covered partially in rocks and partially in smooth sand. Just inland, the brush was thick.
“We better start moving through the bush,” Andy said.
It made sense. Walking through the thick brush was hard; but I thought I saw someone walking near the fence. It would be better to travel camouflaged than out in the open.
"Damn, watch where you're going", Andy complained. He was walking behind me and a branch whipped him in the face.
"Just be glad we didn’t travel through the bush the whole way. We're getting near," I replied.
We approached cautiously. Cut into the thick brush off the shoreline was the enclave. It appeared to be completely surrounded by a fence, but as we got closer, we could start to see the buildings. They were indeed completely surrounded by a metal fence, but it was a chain-link that you could see through. The top of the fence was lined with barbed wire, but it was nothing insurmountable to climb. It certainly would be tricky, but we could all make it over. Well, the actual fence wouldn't be a big deal, but being exposed for everyone to see might be a bigger problem. The brush grew right up to the outside of the fence. There was a wide-open yard on the inside of the fence, surrounding a small grouping of only slightly dilapidated buildings. The yard looked like it received some maintenance. The entire complex looked like it was hastily maintained, just the minimum labour required for utility’s sake.
“Look’s like there’s just the one guard,” Martina said as we surveyed the complex safely from the brush. We were close enough to see within the yard, but still sheltered by the foliage.
“Yeah, he doesn’t look like much of an obstacle,” I said.
The guard, or whoever he was, was just ambling around the side of the complex that was on the river. He was kicking stones and looking down. He had a rifle on his shoulders, but there was no military discipline in his stride, no attention to his surroundings.
“Just wait 'til he goes 'round the other side,” I said.
The others nodded in approval, constantly looking around the perimeter, not wanting to be surprised by any other guards. The building nearest us across the yard was only about fifty feet away from the fence. It was a brick building with a line of narrow windows near the top of the wall. They were too high from the ground to see into the building, but the windows were all open, and you could hear the constant murmur of voices from within. It sounded like one voice reciting something and then an entire group mimicking the same words. It was all done in hypnotic, monotone voices. I listened carefully, trying to understand what was being said, but it was too far, too muffled. All I could really make out was the aggressive, authoritative nature of the lead voice, and the robotic nature of the group who responded with the same words.
“Let’s go,” Martina said.
I was a little startled. I was concentrating on trying to understand what they were saying in the building and I didn’t realize the guard was wandering over to the other side of the complex. The others were more vigilant than me and they were ready to seize the opportunity.
Martina was the first one to jump on the fence. It clanged and waved under her weight. Martina was a little alarmed, but being agile she managed to slow her movements and slunk up to the top. At the top was the tricky part, the barbed wire. She stood completely up, balancing on the top of the fence by holding the wire, and then deftly put one leg over the loops of barbed wire. She lifted the other leg over and jumped into the yard within the compound. She waved her arm, calling the rest of us over, and headed over towards the wall of the building nearest us. At this point, I saw Doug walking away from us.
“Where are you going?” I said.
“I’ll meet you guys when you come back. I’ll be down by the water.”
“What?” Andy said, trying to whisper, but holding back a scream.
“That guy,” Andy said, “has a serious attitude problem.”
“We have no time for that now,” I said. “Let’s go.”
I went across the fence first and over to where Martina was waiting for me beside the building wall. As Andy was on top of the fence, I could see the guard heading back over to our end of the compound.
“Hurry up,” I said.
Andy wasn’t completely balanced and fell awkwardly to the ground, landing with a loud thud. The guard was not paying any attention and Andy scampered over towards us.
“Very stylish,” Martina said.
Andy looked at her and muttered unintelligibly.
We all leaned precariously against the building, taking shelter from the guard walking along the riverside. The windows from the building were several feet above our heads, but they were all slightly open and we could hear what was being said quite clearly.
From inside, a dominant adult voice commanded, “Worship God and all His glory.”
The class of young voices responded, “Worship God and all His glory.”
“There is no way out of the darkness apart from God,” the dominant voice said.
The class mimicked his words once again.
This continued with excruciating monotony for several minutes when Andy gestured us to move along. We were about to move when the dominant voice said, “We will now hear the story of our prophet, the human incarnation of the messenger of God, as told by our esteemed head cleric.”
The head cleric could be heard clearing his voice before he began to speak, “Before Him, there were many prophets, many men who claimed to speak the word of God. Since the dawn of mankind, pagan gods sprouted out of every land, every tribe, and every little village. As civilization developed, the legends around these gods developed and became more elaborate.—yet something was still lacking.
In the 21st century a boy was born who would finally bring together the tangle of information that swirled throughout the world. Someone who could point misguided sinners in a world of darkness to the light they desperately needed. Someone who combined the teachings of previous prophets, enhancing them with the one ingredient the others claimed to have but were truly lacking—divine knowledge.
This special boy was simple and unassuming through the early years of his life. In this way, He was completely different from the other prophets. Their frantic attempts to spread what they thought were the true gospels of God were pathetically human in all its arrogance. The only mark he had which set him out from the crowd, which made people take notice, was his bizarre name—Sugob. He waited for his destiny to occur, being the true prophet of God.
The prophet of God knew what he was waiting for, knew His time would come. Dark forces formed a government that ruled over the entire world, corrupting the world with the worst vices, hedonism, and ignorance of many forms. Mankind and the forces of good had little to fight back with, the established religions weak in comparison to the Great Satan which ruled the world. For you see, this Great Satan was also a human sent from God, just like Sugob would be several years later. This Great Satan was supposed to do Sugob’s job—yet he was corrupted by the frailties of his human form. He became a terrible mixture of divine knowledge and power. Power and corruption can produce only one thing—evil. This world government leader became addicted to the superficial desires of mankind. He lusted for power, and with his divine power, came by it easily.
Yet he knew that Sugob existed.
He knew that Sugob was the same as him. He knew that Sugob’s time would come—so he acted—in the only way the Great Satan could possibly know how to act—in a destructive way.
This Great Satan enacted a plan which would bring the world to the sorry state it is in today. We are falling into the abyss that the Great Satan has pushed us into. The Great Satan ran like all evil cowards, to his hideout in the sky, dropping bombs and sending modern planes of destruction to pound us, abuse us, squeeze every last drop of life and goodness out of us.
We have the word of God as written by Sugob.
We have the only hope for our salvation.
Of course, Sugob wrote the book I hold in my hand. He wrote it as His destiny dictated, as both He and the Great Satan knew would happen. You must follow what the professor teaches you, for it is the word of God as delivered by Sugob—there is no other true voice. This is the only true way. You will be taught the simple ways of servitude and obedience. Some of you will even be given the glorious holy mission of directly fighting the Great Satan. These chosen few are the luckiest ones, for you will fight a noble fight, and if you succumb in this world while battling the Great Satan, your death will be the most noble of all. You will spend eternity basking in your noble acts, and will no longer feel the weariness of this world. Do as you are told my young friends—and eternal salvation is yours.”
With this the dominant voice of the professor said:
“All hail the head cleric.”
The voices of the class responded in unison, as they had done so many times before. We heard the head cleric walking off and I could hear a door on the side of the building opening. I dared to peak inconspicuously around the corner, just in time to see a grey haired man in flowing coloured robes holding a large book, walk towards the next building in the compound. The building was at the center of the complex. Most of the other buildings were large, but long and single-storied. This central building was on slightly higher ground and was two stories high. It rose prominently above the rest. The head cleric walked up a wide flight of stairs to the main entrance. We watched him enter the building. There was a guard at the top of the stairs. The guard bowed obsequiously to the head cleric and opened the door for him. The head cleric passed through the doors without a hint of acknowledgment towards the young man who opened the door. The young man continued to stand in front of the entrance, about as disciplined in his guard work as the other guard walking along the riverfront.
“We’ve got to get in there,” Martina dared to whisper to us.
“Let’s try around the other side,” I said, pointing to the backside of the building.
At the back side of the central building was some overgrown bush, and at the back of those bushes were a couple of other long flat buildings. Right across the compound from the school house was a fortified round building with no windows. Surrounding this complex was the same rickety fence we had already climbed over.
“Let’s go,” Martina said, noticing the guard at the central building was now looking off towards the river.
We all ran towards the brush behind the central building. As soon as we got to the bush, I looked around frantically, checking for other guards. I could see none.
“There doesn’t look like there’s any entrance out back,” I said, looking at the central building.
At the top of the stairs to the front of the central building, there was a cement balcony which surrounded the structure. It looked like the perfect place to walk around and observe the entire compound. There was a formidable wall surrounding the balcony. It would not be so easy for the students to approach the head cleric. The distinction between the two types of residents was clear, even from a fleeting view of the compound.
“Let’s look at the back buildings,” I said.
“You two check that one. I’ll check here,” Martina said, pointing us over to one of the back buildings.
Andy and I ran over to the long, flat, single-storied building. It was probably the largest of the buildings, but was very simple in its structure. The windows were much like the ones in the schoolhouse. They were high up, a few feet above the height of a man. These windows were made to allow air and light in, but not for any of the students inside to see out.
“Give me a leg up,” I whispered to Andy, indicating that I wanted him to boost me up to look in one of the windows.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me. “Why do I have to boost you? Why don’t you boost me?”
“Fine. If there's any armed guards in there, you can take the bullet.”
He thought about this for a second and then cupped his hands.
When I looked in, thankfully the inside of the building appeared to be deserted. It was a series of bunk beds. Just as I jumped back down to the ground, we were startled as Martina was coming up beside us. Andy pointed his gun at her, not yet aware who it was.
“Put that away, you idiot!” Martina whispered with the intensity of a scream.
“Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Andy said.
“It was nothing but a galley and some sort of physical training center,” Martina said. “There were two more guards in there, but they were busy eating and didn’t notice me. What kind of a place serves food at the same place you sweat up a storm?”
“Maybe we can get into the central building by climbing up the back balcony,” I said. “We could sneak up on the guard from behind.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Martina said.
We ran across the overgrown bush area to the back of the central building. I have to admit, standing underneath the wall surrounding the balcony was a little intimidating. It was higher than I imagined and we couldn’t see from there if anybody was observing from the top of the balcony or the building’s windows. These terrorists did not appear to be very organized, but I was sure they could still fire their guns.
“Boost me up,” Martina said.
I looked at Andy, but he put out his hand quickly. I did the same and we raised Martina as high as we could, pushing on her legs. She managed to grab onto the top of the balcony, pulling herself up. I craned my neck to look up at her. Her head was swivelling back and forth, looking for any dangers. I didn’t dare say anything so close to this central building. She must have satisfied herself that all was clear because she quickly pulled a length of rope out of her backpack and draped it over the edge of the balcony wall. She held tight and Andy, and then I, scrambled up to the balcony beside her. She pointed for me to circle the building from one side of the balcony, while she and Andy went from the other side. We moved quickly. As I passed along my side of the building, I could see the river in front of me in plain view. I looked down on the other buildings in the compound, including the schoolhouse, which was the first building we had observed after hopping the fence. Once again, I looked carefully around the corner as I approached the front of the building. The guard was looking in my direction and stood up, startled as he saw my head from around the corner.
“Halt, who goes there,” he said.
He was unprepared for me, and unfortunately for him, he was even less prepared for Martina and Andy—who were right behind him as he stood up. Andy raised the butt of his gun and gave the guard a good shot right in the back of his head. I was looking right in his eyes. His startled look suddenly transformed to one of a drunken stupor; and he fell forward, face first on the balcony, thudding heavily to the ground, unconscious. Andy looked at me, a grin growing on his face, and then he turned towards the main entrance, kicking the front door violently, even though there was no indication it would have been locked. The door swung open easily, banging against the wall as it swivelled completely open.
The three of us ran into the building, and the head cleric gasped, standing up from his seat.
“What are you doing here?” he said.
The head cleric stood, shocked, in the middle of the building. The interior was in much better shape and furnished in a better quality. A hodgepodge of different styles from different eras—yet comfortable. The whole main floor was one room. There were large library shelves used as dividers to separate areas of the main floor. It had the feel of a library where people were now camping out. There was no one else visible.
I looked down the aisles of the huge library shelves, nothing of any danger for the moment. There were stairs leading to the next level made of heavy, crafted wood; craftsmen from previous generations left their mark for this opportunistic parasite to enjoy.
“Its judgment day for you, buddy boy,” Andy said, walking towards the head cleric who cringed, falling back into his chair as Andy approached.
“Who are you and what do you want?” the head cleric said, his look darting back between the three of us.
Andy stood over him and aimed his gun.
“Don’t shoot him yet,” Martina said.
“What do you mean—yet?” the head cleric said. “I am a man of God, you must respect that.”
“Is that what you call it?” I said. “Brainwashing young minds to do your bidding is what men of God are doing on this planet?”
“On this planet?!” he said, looking at our uniforms with renewed interest. “Are you from, from the sky?”
“Yeah,” Martina said. “We were born in the clouds.”
“Why don’t we ask the questions?” Andy said, rubbing his gun barrel along the head cleric’s face.
“Look, this is a temple of God here,” the head cleric began. “We take orphans and disadvantaged children with no one to care for them. We take them in and give them food and shelter. We teach them the word of God.”
“The word of God?” Andy said. “From some character called Sugob? What kinda name is that?”
“Don’t be so blasphemous. You don’t know what you’re saying. Sugob may sound strange to the human tongue, but it is a name given to the Messiah by the archangels themselves. It should never be denigrated.”
“If this guy is just gonna talk crap, why don’t we just blast him?” Andy said. “It’s what he deserves.”
“Please, no,” the head cleric said.
“Are you running this place?” Martina said.
“No, it’s not me. You don’t understand. I have a job to do. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Well, I guess we don’t have any choice either,” I said, cocking my gun and aiming it at him.
“You can’t do that! I have valuable information. It’s Big Simon; he’s the one who is in charge here! He doesn’t want it to be obvious. Some people don’t respond to the usual intimidation. It’s been done by all the warlords. You have to understand, you need to use different methods with different people. These young kids, they’re desperate. They don’t care about anything. You have to give them something to believe in if you want to control them; otherwise they would be up to all kinds of mischief.”
We looked at each other.
“For a man who figures he’s going straight to heaven when he croaks, you seem a little afraid of death.”
“Look,” he began. “We all have a job to do. I have to do what I’m told. These people are ruthless, you know that—how else can you control a ruined city like this? We just capitalize on the anger towards the people who have put us in this situation.”
“Why do you blame the World Government?” I said.
“I will help you out in whatever way you want.”
“Why do you send these kids out to attack the Earth dome?” I said.
“There’s no harm done. We know that they won’t do any harm. We can’t really fight you—you know that! I don’t know why you continue to attack us. We have to motivate them somehow. There are a lot of kids running around the city, causing a lot of trouble. We have to at least try and control some of them. That’s why we unified the religion—to include everyone—all religious and ethnic groups—it’s for their own good. You can understand that?”
“No, not really,” I said.
“You have to give young minds something they can believe in.”
“Whether it’s real or not?” Martina said.
“Do you really think they’d be better off without it? We give them something to believe in. The human mind is goal-oriented; it’s hard to find goals for a young mind in this world. We give them that. We send some of them to uselessly attack your ‘Earth dome’ as you call it, but we know it does no harm. Most of the kids are used for more useful purposes. We have them police the city, run errands, do labour—they’re better off that way.”
“So, you think filling these kids’ heads with lies is the best idea?” Andy said, his face reddening.
“It’s not me, I tell you. I just have a job. I have no choice either. Big Simon is a ruthless warlord, probably the worst we’ve had in years, and he does not accept dissension. You must believe me. I’ll tell you whatever you want.”
“Where are your armaments?” I asked.
“Our military supplies are all stored in the bunker over there,” the head cleric said.
“Okay, who’s Big Simon?” Martina said.
“Who’s Big Simon?” he said, a nervous smile coming to his face. "Are you joking?"
He did not have any more time to say anything before the two soldiers busted in through the front door. The three of us reacted. Martina rolled behind a couch. I stood off to the side, not yet noticed by the two soldiers who were looking towards their precious leader. Andy picked up the head cleric and held him in front as a shield.
For an instant, everyone stood silent.
It was then I pushed one of the huge heavy bookshelves towards the two soldiers. For a fraction of a second I wondered if I had the strength to knock it over, but once its momentum started tipping it the bookshelf went crashing down on the two soldiers. They cried out but the shelves were merciless, showering books and wood on their heads.
“Well, I guess that takes care of--” I began, cut off just as a bullet crashed through one of the front windows, shards of glass spraying into the room. “Let’s get out of here!”
The three of us clamoured for the stairs leading up