Darklight: The New World

Part 9: The Crack In The World

It was a basic transport but Soran was grateful for the medium sized window which he sat next to. He was disguised as a city maintenance worker supposedly heading back to Utopia City from a few months posting in Pinnacle City. According to the navy blue jumpsuit that the holographic projection placed him in, his name was Phil Smith. How quaint. No one on the transport knew his real identity - this was just another commuter transport, same as all the others.

Behind him sat two women dressed in formal attire and clutching papers and computer pads. 

A blonde woman with heavy dark makeup around her bright blue eyes was talking.

“The figures for next quarter are looking good, but the recent geological problems have lead to a decline in share price - people are getting worried”.

“Geological problems?” her Brunette friend replied. She had a fuller figure than the blonde woman but looked far more intelligent with her dark rimmed glasses.

“I’m sorry, you’re going to have to explain - I don’t get down to Operations much and life in Accounting is very insular”  She smirked. The blonde woman let out a small laugh.

“I thought you’d at least feel it - even at home! Have you not? The earthquake yesterday morning actually woke me up!”

“Ahh no - I live in the Althena building. State of the art noise, movement and smell dampening technologies. I feel like I’m surrounded by nothingness when I’m at home! ITs a must have for the middle of the city!”

“Oh I didn’t know you lived there!” The blonde woman replied with a beam. “You are going to HAVE to invite me over, I’ve always wanted to see that place! My apartment is in the lower Eastern district...” Soran became bored with the conversation and let his attention drift.

The transport lifted into the air from the top of the landing pad. The buildings of the city lowered around the basic box-with-wings that he was sitting in. The craft was floating gently over the city. Soran was staring out as he wondered where all of the Green had gone from the world. When he was in Eresmai he had seen pictures of the Arcadian Nation and the ancient world before even that empire. Parks, forests and fields of agriculture where abundant. But there was none of that now - below him were buildings, plazas and grey. Agriculture had been replaced with hydroponics, battery farms and synthesization. Nothing was natural. As the transport reached the edge of the city its drive pods kicked in - noise pollution forbade the craft from kicking into full speed above the city. Soran thought of the location of several other Old World cities - the continent of Nestro, which was located to the north of the Forbidden Continent sharing the Northern Hemisphere of the planet with Utopia. The continent had been decimated by Rammachandra. No one knew exactly how she had done it, but there was some sort of colossal explosion that ripped the continent itself apart. All that remained was a rocky, barren archipelago on which nothing would grow. In the centre of this archipelago was a large landmass that contained only desert. The once lush and green land that had been destroyed. Pinnacle City, Utopia City, even Eresmai were nothing but grey, metal deserts.

They were well on their way back to Utopia when the turbulence hit. Soran thought nothing of it. The craft continued to bob along in the air with no consequence. But they were getting worse. The craft lurched upwards and then downwards again as the women sitting behind him let out little squeals.

“We apologize for the turbulence” the tinny voice of the pilot said over the tannoy. “It appears that we have run into an area of...” There was another lurch and an ominous beeping sound came over the tannoy.

“There are striations in the matrix” A panicked voice said. Soran looked out of the window in concern. It wasn’t like he couldn’t escape the crash, but his quiet entrance into the city would be ruined and he would never get Natasha back. They were nearing the coast of Utopia.

“We’re losing our lock on the grid points” The voice of the woman co-pilot said quickly. They had clearly forgotten about the tannoy.

“This is impossible” She said as the male pilot radioed into the city Airspace Control.

“Utopia Central, this is transport PC-197. We request emergency assistance in Southern Approach. Suspected anti-grav fail....”

There was another lurch and the craft began to plummet out of the sky.

“MAYDAY MAYDAY GRIDPOINT FAILIURE. MATRIX UNSTABLE. MAYDAY MAYDAY...” The pilot shouted over the din of the rushing air.

“THS IS IMPOSSIBLE!” He heard the woman cry through the screams of the other passengers. She was right. These craft clung to the very arcane fields generated by the planet’s Crystaline Matrix. This wasn’t possible - the fields had been there as a natural part of the planet since it was formed.

Soran unbuckled himself and stood, attempting to grab the craft in the air round it. But nothing happened. He tried to keep it afloat in an Electromagnetic Field. Nothing. Just as the gravity of the situation hit Soran, the craft hit the water. He was thrown backwards and expected to feel the impact of the rear of the craft, but it didn’t happen. As the transport hit the water, flipped and burst into flames Soran was swept into the unrelenting current. The current was dragging him under, over rocks and down deeper, deeper. He looked up and saw the gray sky. How? It was a clear day? He couldn’t breath. His vision was blurring and he couldn’t control his movement. The water wasn’t salty, it was clear. He was being sucked downwards. Down and down into a dark tunnel until suddenly the water broke... below him. Below him? He fell, taking gulps of air until he hit the ground a few feet below and rolled onto his side in pain. The device around his neck was gone and he was exposed. The ground was warm. He was lying on sand-coloured stone whilst people walked past him, whispering and pointing. Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” She said urgently. He was dripping wet and shivering. But why? It was warm? 

“Are you okay?” The voice said again. Her voice was soothing, but alarmed. Her accent seemed ridiculously upper class, the type of accent you would expect from the upper echelons of Utopian civilization trying to come across more posh than they actually were.

“I’m... yeah I’m okay...” Soran stuttered weakly. He looked up at the woman now. Her dark hair was curled into ringlets an her deep blue eyes looked at him in concern. She was pale skinned and middle aged and very beautiful.

“What’s your name?” She asked Soran. But... her forehead...? Were they?

“Are you Skry? Soran asked in a hoarse voice. The woman looked worried.

“I think you have a concussion” She said.

“Please” Soran said, coughing. “Are you Skry?”

“Of course I am” The woman said with a sympathetic smile. “And so are you. What else would you expect in Arcadia?”.