Strandline

Strandline - Episode 10: Godzilla

If not for the people on the sidewalk he had to dodge around, Naveen would have caught up with Kristen already. She was fast, but his strides were longer, and Kristen was stumbling an awful lot. Odd considering that it wasn’t even dark yet.

Ahead King Street turned sharply to the east, but Kristen seemed oblivious. Finally Naveen grabbed her arm, jerking her to a stop before she collided with the side of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. The headlights of a passing car threw more light on the obvious obstacle.

Kristen, shaking and panting, blinked at the painted cinderblock wall, then at Naveen. She managed a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” Naveen shrugged. She didn’t seem like she’d bolt again, so he let go of her arm. “That woulda hurt.”

Kristen just nodded. She put her back to the wall and looked to the south as she caught her breath.

Naveen followed suit. From this vantage point the power seemed to be out in much of the city, presumably from whatever that boom had been. He wouldn’t be surprised if the damned Greenmen claimed responsibility. Why they were suddenly picking on the Republic he didn’t know.

Kristen’s breaths had slowed, but she still wasn’t talking. Keeping worry and frustration out of his voice, Naveen asked, “What were you talking about before? You worked on what?”

She pursed her lips for a long moment. “Godzilla.”

“Huh?”

A blinding burst of light flashed to Naveen’s right. Even as he yelped and threw up his arm to shield his eyes, the glow materialized into Craig. “Jeez, man!”

Craig gave him and Kristen an apologetic look. “Sorry. Everyone okay?” The question was mostly directed at Kristen.

“I guess.” She peered nervously to the south again.

Craig and Naveen followed her gaze. All Naveen saw was a lack of city lights… and smoke. A plume of smoke twisted into the darkening sky.

“What is it?” Craig asked.

“Godzilla, apparently,” Naveen replied. Craig frowned at him. Naveen shrugged and gestured at Kristen. “She said she’d worked on him.”

“It,” Kristen confirmed.

Craig blew out a long breath. “Seeing how there are no overgrown lizards trashing the city, care to elaborate?”

“Faraday cages,” she stated. Naveen and Craig looked at her blankly. “I worked on the containment part of Godzilla, the Faraday cages. They’re electromagnetic fields turned to keep nicts out… or in.”

“That was the whine?” Craig asked.

Kristen nodded. “Yeah. The field generators powering up. It sounded like it came from this direction–” she waved to the east “–so I went this way. Anyone can walk through the field. You just can’t teleport through it.”

Naveen considered that for a moment. “That Farscape thing–”

“Faraday,” Kristen corrected.

“–right, Faraday thing sucks and all, but I don’t see anything to run from. So we’re cool, right?”

Kristen smiled sheepishly. “Right. I keep forgetting this isn’t the Coalition. Even with the palm trees.”

Craig stared at her. “You’re from the Western Coalition?” She nodded, and he laid one hand on her shoulder. “I’m glad you got out.”

She nodded again, but didn’t seem to share Craig’s relief. “So, um, I guess we should go back to Mike’s before they think we were pulling a dine and dash.”

“Good idea,” Naveen grinned.

As they walked west on King Street, multiple sirens sounded from the south. Craig, Kristen, and a few other pedestrians stopped and peered toward the noise.

Naveen stopped and looked as well. He wasn’t surprised to see that the column of smoke had widened. “Just the fire department,” he said.

Kristen stood on tiptoes. “You can see fire engines? I can hardly see my hand in front of my face.”

“Well, no,” Naveen said, choosing not to point out that it was still twilight. “I assume they’re responding to the fire that’s making all of that smoke.”

Craig and Kristen exchanged a look, then faced Naveen. “What smoke?”

Naveen waved at the sooty plume in the distance. “Uh, that one?”

Kristen looked in the direction he’d indicated, then back to him and shook her head. Craig gulped, of all things! “‘Veen, man,” Craig said, his voice hesitant, “I can’t see shit over there.”

“Are you blind?” Naveen pointed straight at the smoke. “Right there!”

“The sun set a half hour ago, Naveen,” Kristen said quietly. Craig nodded beside her.

Naveen frowned at them, ignoring how his stomach had tied into a knot. “You need to get your eyes checked.” Then he nodded toward Mike’s and resumed walking.

Kristen caught up with him moments later. Craig’s soft footsteps were just behind them. “Naveen,” Kristen said with the same quiet, careful tone she’d just used. “I think something happened in the hospital room.”

“No shit,” he shot back. He saw Kristen tense out of the corner of his eyes. “Sorry,” Naveen said with a rueful smile. “I mean, yeah. Something definitely happened.” He held up his formerly broken arm and canted his head toward Craig briefly.

“More than–”

“Hey, I have a question,” Naveen interrupted. He had no desire to think about the craziness in the hospital room any further. “Why’d they call the Farrah Fawcett thing ‘Godzilla’?”

Kristen cracked a smile. “Faraday.” She studied Naveen for a moment, then said, “The Faraday cages are only part of the project.” She lowered her voice a bit more. “It’s a military system to defend against the nict– um, terrorists. We figured that Godzilla was a silly code name.”

Craig moved up to walk on Kristen’s other side. “What do the other parts of, ah, Godzilla do?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” She worried her lip briefly. “I was proud to be part of the team. I thought I was keeping people safe.”

“Propaganda,” Craig sniffed.

Kristen stopped short and glared at him. “I know lots of people who died in terrorists attacks, so don’t you–”

Light flashed behind Kristen, making Naveen squeeze his eyes shut. “Petra!” Craig and Kristen exclaimed.

He opened his eyes to find Petra leaning heavily on Kristen. Blood dripped from Petra’s scalp down the side of her face, and cuts and bruises marred her left leg. “What happened?!” Kristen cried.

“I tried to get us out,” she said. “Me and Bryce. There’s a containment field or something. They’re trying to fight it, but I don’t think–”

“Fight what?” Craig said.

An image flickered in Naveen’s mind: a huge, bulky figure in the middle of downtown. It was darker than the night sky behind it. Red and blue police lights whirled, revealing glimpses of the monster’s irregular surface.

Petra’s eyes pleaded with the three of them. “We have to do something! They’re going to die!”

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madasor/852278593/