One rather large
area of the land looked to be submerged in water, running across
one side of the perimeter of the flooded area was a large
structure, which just looked like a large metallic curved wall. His
eyes brushed over the other side of the horizon, where there looked
to be a large crater, as though some explosion had happened.
But that wasn’t
the worst of it.
There were
people down there. He could see them. Very small, obviously, and
hard to see as the majority of the place wasn’t lit up, but still
just visible. Just about. It was hard to make out what they were
doing. It didn’t look like much.
“Are you sure
orange is my sorta colour Jack?” said his father, eyeing his tie in
his mechanical hands with his digital eyes.
“It’s James,”
snarled James, “And don’t worry, it looks fine. What is this
place?”
“This boy,”
said his father, importantly striding out to the railings at the
edge of the balcony, “Is Elision City. And one day son, this will
all be yours.”
“What, this,
mess?”
“Well, yeah,
sorry about that boy, things went a bit wrong.”
“What do you
mean wrong!?
“First things
first boy, you need a tour of this place,” said his father, waving
a dismissive robotic hand at James’s question, “Now the basic
things you need to know are, this is Elision City. Our rival city,
Union is somewhere over there,” he pointed at the horizon, “there
are a few more cities but they are unimportant. And we are all
separated by the wasteland.”
“The
wasteland?”
“Yeah, boy, the
wasteland.”
“What is the
wasteland, father?” asked James, getting a bit annoyed with his
father’s self-importance.
“A gap. Between
all the cities,” said his father, looking rather irritated that
James had spoilt his little dramatic speech with questions,
“Wasteland. We dump rubbish there. Scavengers live there
apparently. And I heard Union went through a phase of banishing
wrong-doers to there.
“Anyway, enough
of the wasteland boy, no-one cares of that,” continued his father,
now pointing at the flooded area, “That is where the Ares Flood
Defences failed. Unfortunate day.”
“How?” injected
James.
“That’s a story
for another time Jerry,” said his father, now pointing at the
crater, “You do like to waste time with pointless details don’t
you? Anyway, that is where the Deimos Facility failed and exploded.
Not the best of days-”
“What? What
happened to all the people?”
“Oh, them. They
all died. Got some sort of virus which turned them... undead. Most
likely caused by the Deimos Facility exploding. Resonance is a
dangerous thing unless you know what you’re doing-”
“Whoa, whoa,
wait a minute,” said James, raising a hand sharply to interrupt his
father, “You mean that Deimos thing killed everyone?”
“Well, nearly,”
said his father carelessly, his mind still on his orange tie, “It
took time. The initial meltdown caused a fair amount of damage,
something called a resonance cascade. After that the economy
collapsed. People rioted. Floods occurred. The disease spread. All
it took was one bite, and within hours you were one of them. Dead,
but somehow reanimated. With only one desire. To feed.”
“And don’t you
care?”
“On the
contrary boy, I care very much. In fact I find the whole thing very
embarrassing,” his father scowled, “The other cities mock me.
Especially Union. I needed something to beat their Copland Project,
and I thought the Deimos and Phobos Facilities were just the
ticket. Strength instead of intelligence. We stole the idea from
Copland itself, my electronics whizz kids brute forced their way
into the system, or something like that. Look, I don’t really know.
Either way, at the moment, the war is lost and technically we sort
of shot ourselves in the foot. By accident of course.”
“Not about
that, about the people!”
“Oh, them.
Yeah, it’s a shame.”
“You don’t care
do you?” snapped
area of the land looked to be submerged in water, running across
one side of the perimeter of the flooded area was a large
structure, which just looked like a large metallic curved wall. His
eyes brushed over the other side of the horizon, where there looked
to be a large crater, as though some explosion had happened.
But that wasn’t
the worst of it.
There were
people down there. He could see them. Very small, obviously, and
hard to see as the majority of the place wasn’t lit up, but still
just visible. Just about. It was hard to make out what they were
doing. It didn’t look like much.
“Are you sure
orange is my sorta colour Jack?” said his father, eyeing his tie in
his mechanical hands with his digital eyes.
“It’s James,”
snarled James, “And don’t worry, it looks fine. What is this
place?”
“This boy,”
said his father, importantly striding out to the railings at the
edge of the balcony, “Is Elision City. And one day son, this will
all be yours.”
“What, this,
mess?”
“Well, yeah,
sorry about that boy, things went a bit wrong.”
“What do you
mean wrong!?
“First things
first boy, you need a tour of this place,” said his father, waving
a dismissive robotic hand at James’s question, “Now the basic
things you need to know are, this is Elision City. Our rival city,
Union is somewhere over there,” he pointed at the horizon, “there
are a few more cities but they are unimportant. And we are all
separated by the wasteland.”
“The
wasteland?”
“Yeah, boy, the
wasteland.”
“What is the
wasteland, father?” asked James, getting a bit annoyed with his
father’s self-importance.
“A gap. Between
all the cities,” said his father, looking rather irritated that
James had spoilt his little dramatic speech with questions,
“Wasteland. We dump rubbish there. Scavengers live there
apparently. And I heard Union went through a phase of banishing
wrong-doers to there.
“Anyway, enough
of the wasteland boy, no-one cares of that,” continued his father,
now pointing at the flooded area, “That is where the Ares Flood
Defences failed. Unfortunate day.”
“How?” injected
James.
“That’s a story
for another time Jerry,” said his father, now pointing at the
crater, “You do like to waste time with pointless details don’t
you? Anyway, that is where the Deimos Facility failed and exploded.
Not the best of days-”
“What? What
happened to all the people?”
“Oh, them. They
all died. Got some sort of virus which turned them... undead. Most
likely caused by the Deimos Facility exploding. Resonance is a
dangerous thing unless you know what you’re doing-”
“Whoa, whoa,
wait a minute,” said James, raising a hand sharply to interrupt his
father, “You mean that Deimos thing killed everyone?”
“Well, nearly,”
said his father carelessly, his mind still on his orange tie, “It
took time. The initial meltdown caused a fair amount of damage,
something called a resonance cascade. After that the economy
collapsed. People rioted. Floods occurred. The disease spread. All
it took was one bite, and within hours you were one of them. Dead,
but somehow reanimated. With only one desire. To feed.”
“And don’t you
care?”
“On the
contrary boy, I care very much. In fact I find the whole thing very
embarrassing,” his father scowled, “The other cities mock me.
Especially Union. I needed something to beat their Copland Project,
and I thought the Deimos and Phobos Facilities were just the
ticket. Strength instead of intelligence. We stole the idea from
Copland itself, my electronics whizz kids brute forced their way
into the system, or something like that. Look, I don’t really know.
Either way, at the moment, the war is lost and technically we sort
of shot ourselves in the foot. By accident of course.”
“Not about
that, about the people!”
“Oh, them.
Yeah, it’s a shame.”
“You don’t care
do you?” snapped
Similar Books
