Life on Mars

Chapter Twenty-seven

The vile speech made earlier by Pierrot only enforced the feelings Jak had about how far humanity had fallen. Even if everything failed tonight this was surely the end of the human race. Whether the professor was right or not didn't matter anymore because out there were hundreds of thousands of people celebrating their own demise. Jak was too young to remember how men had become slaves to machines and to hear Pierrot, machines were worshipped. How had we allowed a human invention to govern our lives? To Jak Samian it looked like a hundred thousand condemned men celebrating their execution. 

Feng had been so engrossed in the spectacle below that he hadn't noticed his stare. He'd proven to be a valuable if not volatile ally in the battle for humanity. The professor had arrived from the future claiming that they'd eventually be future leaders and friends. No doubt their paths would have crossed at some point even without his introduction. Those people out there were not the only ones whose destiny was being changed tonight, his was too. If the old man was telling the truth, he'd met them both in TVC26, 11 years from now. By then, he and Feng would be leaders of what was left of the humanists. 

Meanwhile, right under their noses the entire organic human race was being coerced into living a virtual existence inside a machine. What might have happened to them next gave him goosebumps. If as the professor described, Mother stopped reproducing organic life, then they could eventually have been the last. All this had proven that they had been right and had to succeed tonight. Jak Samian may be young, but he wasn't stupid, he knew this could be a double-cross to root them out, but that was a risk he would have to take. Jak had become lost in thought, having watched the fat clown whip them all into a frenzy. Explaining how tonight was special and tonight's announcement would take us to the next level. The great Nova was here physically, and the crowd felt it as if in the presence of an ancient religion god.

At last, the moment all of Heathen had waited for had arrived. Pierrot finally left the stage and the lights dimmed. Pierrot's voice echoed across the cavernous space only just heard above the screams.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, drawing out his words. "Please." Another pause. "Welcome." Longer this time. "Nova and the spiderrrrrrrrsss!" he screamed with the crowd. In the darkness on stage, there was movement, figures.

Suddenly, in an explosion of colour and sound, the caveman appeared on the stage. A hundred thousand souls jumping in unison to worship at the church of a man. His aura and charisma were contagious and almost physical both inside and outside the stadium. The opening music and song were electrifying and Jak felt the hairs bristle on his arms. The pair were not immune, and from their own vantage point were mesmerised by the performance they were witnessing. The event had relieved some of the tension and shortened the wait. Jak even had time to daydream about the future whilst under the caveman's spell. If all went well, he'd soon meet him, they would be kindred souls for sure. It wasn't lost on him that the pair had some affinity with the distant past. If the caveman joined them and became part of what they were trying to achieve then they might all replace the major. They could be heroes. They could destroy the major's myth and replace it with the men who really saved the world. After an incredible performance lasting maybe forty minutes, Nova announced they would be taking a break after the next song. They had only played a few chords when it happened.

The pair were slapped from their individual trance as the power failed and everything went dark; seconds later the emergency backup kicked in.

"Was that it?" shouted Jak.

Jak leapt off the desk excitedly as Feng got to work.

"Me thinks so." His fingers stabbed at the old interface he held in his palm. Numbers and letters of code overlaid the screens inside the tower with show proceedings outside providing a background. None of this was visible on the outside main screens, at least they hoped so.