The City In The Clouds

The Ascent

In the two weeks since Parker arrived in the cloud world, Tex and Marty had taken him in as one of their own. He had met many of their compatriots and now understood the world he saw much better. 

Tex and Marty lived "below," as the residents of the clouds would say. They were the outcasts, whether they be criminals, social misfits and those that didn't fit into the perfect society that the City In The Clouds aimed to be. Contact between the two was strictly forbidden and the constantly roving security forces did their best to constantly keep Tex and Marty on the move to prevent them from becoming comfortable. It was a constant cat and mouse game.

Tex and his friends were not without recourse, however. Through years of observation, they had learned the patterns of the security forces and their emergency services. They knew how to take advantage of holes in their routines at the right time.

The plan was simple and it was happening that night. Parker couldn't help but feel anxious as he watched Tex and his men prepare. They gathered supplies and weapons. Several trucks were loaded with combustible material and soaked in a flammable liquid. Parker didn't know exactly what it was but it smelled potent.

Everyone loaded up into the trucks and on Tex's signal, they all took off towards the closest cloud tower. Parker knew that at that very moment, dozens of trucks just like the one he was riding in was heading towards the tower. 

As they approached the tower, Tex barked an order into a handheld radio. Moments later, the sky lit up by an explosion to their right, somewhere within the slums. Tex had called it a simple diversion but it looked more than simple to Parker. The idea, Tex had said, was to move the security forces away from the perimeter of the tower so they could more easily access it.

Once they arrived, everything happened very quickly. All trucks arrived almost at once. Their cargo was unloaded up against the tower itself. While the trucks retreated, the material was set on fire. It only took moments for the whole base of the building to be lit.

Parker and Tex retreated to a safe spot and waited. Less than a minute later, the emergency services arrived through a high-speed elevator system attached to the building. Immediately, the emergency crew fanned out to fight the fire while Parker and the rest snuck onto the elevator. Moments later, they were racing up the side of the building.

"Almost there, Parker, almost there. You'll have your precious moon," Tex said with a smile.

Parker nodded. "What about you? What are you going to do once we reach the top? Head back down?"

"Well, not quite. We have an inside source about a stash of supplies that we tend to, well, aquire. Once we arrive on the cloud platform, just above the clouds, we'll go our separate ways and then meet up back at the elevator."

"Right," Parker said and nodded. He had been able to avoid telling Tex and Marty the real reason for his visit to the light of the full moon. He hoped they wouldn't be too disappointed when he didn't return for their extraction.

As the ground disappeared into the gray soup of the cloud, Parker felt the humidity of the clouds on his face. It was almost like walking through a thick fog. He couldn't help but smile and wonder if this would be his first and only time riding an elevator through a cloud.

The clear sky, the twinkling stars, and the bright moon caught Parker by surprise. Around him, the large cloud towers reflected the celestial bodies above them on their glass surfaces. It created the illusion of being surrounded by thousands of stars and moons.

The platform came to a halt next to a long walkway that stretched from tower to tower. Tex shook hands with Parker as if he knew it would be the last time they saw each other.

"Good luck with the moon, Parker."

"Thanks, Tex. For everything."

He grinned, turned and ran after his men towards the other side of the tower. They had their mission, he had his.

The moon was already bright. Parker walked away from the building and looked around. It was beautiful. It was as if a cover of cotton surrounded the towers that penetrated through from below. It was as if he had entered a city of angels.

He was interrupted by a vibration in his pocket. He took out Horo and held it up. Although he had no idea what was home, he had set the dials to something that seemed familiar. He had no way of knowing he was right.

The Horo buzzed a second time. 

Parker felt his heart beat faster and it seemed like a swarm of butterflies suddenly had woken up in his stomach. He realized that although he had been lucky to meet Tex and his men when he arrived, he really had no idea where he would end up next or if those that met him would be as compassionate as Tex.

The Horo buzzed a third time.

~~~

Next to the building, Tex saw the strange man called Parker look up at the moon. He seemed transfixed by the device in his hand. Tex had never been able to figure out what it was and he also had a suspicion that Parker wasn't telling him the whole story about his meeting with the moon. 

Then, suddenly, Parker was gone. 

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I'd love to hear what you think about the story and whether you think it fits in the Voynich Universe. Leave me a comment or vote. Then, to read the next story in the series, head back over to Voynich Shift:

https://www.wattpad.com/story/108783309-voynich-shift (clickable link in comments below)