The City In The Clouds

Leonis,1:1,2:1 - The Arrival

Parker looked down on his arm, again. It wasn't a dream. The tattoo on his arm, the tattoo that held the address back home, was gone. He glanced back up at the pages of his grandfather's notebook, flapping away in the breeze like birds scattering after a gunshot. They were gone. He was stuck with no way to get home. At that moment he regretted not memorizing the home sequence for the Horo. Now it was too late.

A siren brought Parker back to reality. Traffic on the highway had ground to a halt in front of him, across all six lanes. He quickly ran over to the edge of the highway and almost immediately, as if on cue, all six lanes started moving again at the same time. The siren, which had been approaching with the customary emergency lights, shut off and whatever entity it was that had been dispatched, it came to a halt. 

Parker paused for a moment and looked around. The highway, six lanes wide, stretched in either direction as far as the eye could see. It snaked between the buildings that disappeared into the clouds. He was puzzled that the lanes only went in the one direction and that the cars, all uniform in shape and color, appeared to travel in perfect harmony down the highway. 

Where am I? What is this place?

The highway was elevated several stories above the ground. Tree canopies stretch out on each side, interrupted by sporadic structures that reached higher than the forest ceiling. The most striking feature of the landscape he saw before him was the cloud cover. It stretched, uninterrupted, from horizon to horizon. He felt a chill run down his spine as he realized that cloud cover was between him and the moon. 

I have to get out of here. I have to get above the clouds.

Parker looked up and down the highway and noticed a door about twenty yards down the road. He put the Horo in his pocket and jogged over there. Inside, a spiral staircase descended into a poorly lit dark hole. He hesitated for a moment but then started running down the stairs, two steps at a time.

Four levels down, he came to another door. A quick peek revealed what he had been missing at the top level. The traffic lanes leading in the other direction. He continued down the stairs until he reached the bottom. A door, worn and rusty, let him out of the structure with a loud squeal from its hinges. 

A dark and dirty alley greeted him. The stench of decaying trash overwhelmed him while a single flickering streetlight right above the door revealed rats scurrying for cover at the sight of this unexpected intruder. Parker grimaced, covered his nose and looked away.

The alley ran parallel with the raised highway. Old brick buildings, two and three stories high, lined the alley. Covered by vines and moss, they stood as a testament to more productive times of many decades ago. Most of the windows were broken or cracked. A few gave away their inhabitants by flickering lights. Faded signs high on the walls of each building revealed that they once had been operated by Geniel Industries. To Parker, this name meant nothing.

"Hey you," a voice suddenly called out for him. 

Parker turned and saw a large, well-built man. Balding, wearing a worn t-shirt and jeans, the man stood barefoot in the middle of the dirty street, a finger pointed right at Parker.

"Yeah, you there. What are you doing here?"

"Umm," Parker hesitated and pointed towards the door next to him. The man followed the direction his finger was pointing and then looked upwards.

"From up there? You crazy, man?" the man said as he approached. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get home," Parker blurted out, unsure of what to say as he slowly moved backward, away from the approaching man.

"Hey, where are you going? Stop right there."

Parker turned and ran. He didn't know who this man was but he had no intention of interacting with the locals any more than he had to. He had to get out of there. That was his one and only goal.

As he ran, he heard the man shout behind him and then he heard the steps of the man approaching from behind. Parker ran around the corner and splashed right through a puddle of mud. He looked down for a moment, cursing himself for not paying better attention. He looked up in time to see the light post right in his path. He hit it head on and tumbled to the ground, unconscious.

~~~

When Parker came to, he had a splitting headache. He opened his eyes and almost jumped out of the bed when he saw the man from the alley sitting next to him. The man put a hand on his arm and smiled.

"Relax, you're safe. You had quite the hit there, man."

"Well, you were chasing me."

The man laughed out loud. "You ran, remember?"

Parker looked around and ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't know you," he said.

"Fair enough. I'm sorry I scared you, I just had to make sure you weren't one of them."

"One of them?"

"Well, you know, security. We're not exactly allowed here and they've been trying to infiltrate our ranks lately. We try to take every precaution, you know."

"Security? Why would they infiltrate you?"

"What do you mean? You must have really hit your head hard. They want us out of here. Build another cloud tower." The man pointed a finger towards the ceiling.

Parker sat up but had to pause when the room started spinning around him. His hand touched the pulsating bump on his forehead. He'd hit that light post pretty good.

"I'm Tex, by the way, " the man said."Let me grab you something to eat and drink. You look like you could use it."

Tex left the room. Parker slowly sat up and slid his legs off of the bed. The room was lit by a naked light bulb that swayed to some unknown rhythm. The walls were bare and the only furniture in the room was the bed he sat on, the chair next to the bed and a small table. He saw an empty, chipped coffee cup on the table together with a worn deck of cards and Horo.

Horo? He reached for the device and cradled it in his hands. The device had gotten him here, wherever here was, and now he had to get out of here again.

"I was wondering what that was, " Tex said from the doorway, a plate and a cup of coffee in his hand," Some kind of clock? "

Parker looked at the ancient device in his hands and nodded." Something like that, yes. "

Tex handed the plate to Parker and put the cup on the table." So what's your name? "

" Parker. "

" Parker, huh. Well, where are you from Parker? It's obvious you're not from around here. "

" That's complicated. "

Tex laughed." Yeah, I'm guessing, the way you're dressed, man."

"When is the next full moon? "

" The next full moon? What difference does that make? We can't see it down here anyway. The cloud cover is permanent. "

" Permanent? "

Tex' s eyes narrowed and he leaned closer to Parker."You talk like you don't know."

"Don't know what? " Parker said, trying to sound innocent. Of course he didn't know and he didn't know what he was supposed to know.

" Listen, Tex, I really need to see the next full moon."

Tex laughed and slapped his leg with one hand. "Well, Parker, you've got two weeks before the next full moon but getting up there, man, forget about it."

"What do you mean?"

Their conversation was interrupted by an explosion somewhere in the building. Tex was on his feet, gun in hand before Parker had time to ask what was going on. Another man suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"We've got to go, it's a raid."