Akropolis

The Soldier (Part 3)

He left the circular parking lot via one of two access roads. Once on one of the cross streets the speed quickened exponentially. Here, close to the hub and past the residential areas, the streets were actual widened freeways teeming with transports bustling back and forth, gliding quickly from lane to lane like giant bumblebees. And the ASF transports moved twice as fast. Public opinion showed that citizens felt assured knowing that guards could arrive for a situation at twice the speed as was considered normal.

Most people tended to work on their virtual pads or read or converse with one another on transport trips but Trey preferred to just watch as the city went by. He was still one of the few that had seen the last vestiges of the Old World before it was gone, and it somehow kept everything in perspective to study this one and know just what he was protecting.

The guards' quarters were situated in the central ring between what was known as the Waste Belt and the Mid-Zone. The Waste Belt contained the recycling plants that made certain no bit of material in the city was truly 'waste', and the Mid-Zone was a residential area replete with parks and schools.

The freeways, once past the waste belt, rose quickly a hundred feet into the air so that as he passed by the Mid-Zone, Trey could look out and down and see all the homes of those that worked in the Inner Circle, ranging from relatively picturesque colonial houses to conjoined condos and then high-rise apartments, the closer he got to the hub. Even though this new world was different from the old, class still seemed to be evident in certain ways.

Once past the Mid-Zone came the finest view in all of Akropolis, a place that still captured a micro-fraction of the beauty that once existed.

The Bay.

Here was a water belt that stretched the entire circumference of the city, dotted with various sandy beaches and harbors, peninsulas and lagoons. At any point and time you could look down at The Bay from the freeways and see families swimming in the salt waters or lounging on the beaches, kayakers going up and down the belt, passed by the occasional canoe or paddle boat.

There was about every beach or water recreational activity going on except anything deemed reasonably unsafe...and for some reason there were no sailboats or motorboats of any kind. Trey wasn't sure why but whenever he passed through The Bay he always looked hard for the sight of one, especially a sailboat, as if some day it would suddenly appear. As a young man he had dreamt of sailing the oceans and seas, long before the Marines and war and the end of all things. Even after all these years he still hoped to see one gracing the waters.

The Bay was gone all too quickly as Trey passed to the Inner Circle. Here were all the giant buildings that housed the enormous 3D printing machines as well as the architects and engineers that continued to create the plans that improved life in Akropolis.

These buildings had been designed to be pleasing to the eye, rather like works of art than functional 'factories'. All sorts of geometrical shapes abounded in the structure of the buildings and some which defied any sort of reason but still were inspiring to look upon. These buildings showcased the engineers and architects dreams for what Akropolis might someday look like as a whole.

And finally, there it was...The Pantheon.

It was the hub of the city, the pinnacle of their achievements in this most envious of sanctuaries, and the most awe inspiring building that deservedly earned its name from ancient lore.

The Pantheon was both a symbol and the most crucial functioning part of Akropolis. Without it there would be no safety from the dangers of their decrepit atmosphere, no Quantum Cloud to house the millions of profiles that were the backups for human consciousness, no labs or production facilities to improve and create the QUBITS, which were most likely going to be the final evolutionary stage of the human race. The most brilliant minds in this now depleted world worked within those walls. But it was deep beneath the floors of the Pantheon where the life's blood of Akropolis existed; the aquifer and artificial growing fields that produced the necessary sustenance still needed by humans and QUBITs to survive.