Sub Terra: Et Reditus

One

Four years later...

Daniel

I sat on a seat on the top of the double decker bus I was working on, looking at the cityscape around me. Even though it had been years since I first stepped foot into it, the ruins of Quito never ceased to amaze me. The bus was parked in front of a small restaurant owned by the tour company, where my clients ate their lunch. It was housed in one of the few buildings that managed to survive to Terran-Narkephian War. Going up the ramps from Ciudad 22 up to Quito was like a scene from a movie, it was always incredible. Seeing Pichincha from one of the many rebuilt roads was like meeting a giant in real life. It was amazing to think that no matter how much the Narks took away from earth, nature always stood its ground.

Suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps come up the stairs to the top deck, bringing an end to my museful wondering.

"Dreaming again, amigo?" My colleague Omar said, dropping into the same seat I was already in.

"Ah, yup." I said in response.

"Tonight's the last night of this three-day trip. Aren't you glad that we get to go home again?"

"I sure am, man," I said, laughing. "Got any plans?"

"Spend some time with the parents, you know, the usual. You?"

"Oh, funny that you ask that. I've got something really special coming up."

"Like what?"

"Tomorrow night, my girlfriend's aunt's a huge party at her new house. My girlfriend thinks it's gonna be a housewarming party."

"Why wouldn't it be a housewarming party?"

"It's a surprise for Devi. It's actually going to be a celebration for her graduating nursing school." I said in a jittery voice, just thinking about it made me excited.

"Congrats to her." He said simply but passionately. I thanked him in response.

Silence filled the air, the only sound being some unknown bird in the distance, and chatting of our clients right below us. My mind, for a brief moment, returned to a state of quietness and calm, until Omar spoke.

"You two should get married." He said, out of the blue. "You've been together for what, four years?"

"We're not ready for that stage of life yet. I'm only 22, and she's 24. You know we don't get the best salary, it's gonna be really tough to have that sort of lifestyle. It's not like I don't want to marry her... I just can't."

"I'm sorry for asking that. I didn't know it was like that for you."

"It's no one's fault," I said, lying to myself. "Things happen and we just need to adapt to them."

There hadn't been a single day since the Conference where I didn't blame myself for the war. I was the reason some of the protesters that day showed up, the reason the Allies had to come, and the reason why those brave men and women had to die at the hands of some drunk bastards. No matter how I connected the dots, it always came back to me. Sometimes I felt that the pain from the burden was too much. After reading my mom's diaries, my perception of reality had completely changed.

Just then, the two of us felt a presence in the sky, high above us. It was an unsettling feeling, but something that had become too normal for us. By the time we looked up, it was only a black dot in the sky, shrinking more and more as it silently traveled north at an incredible speed.

"That's the third jet this hour," Omar pointed out. The frequent sightings of Fighterships had become a recurring event during our time as tour guides. "Probably gonna be another one coming in the next 15 minutes."

A sudden thought came to me, causing me to smile.

"Sometimes, when I look at those Ships, I like to think that my best friend might be on them."

"Why?"

"I haven't seen him in three years. He's been with the Allies ever since he turned 18. He's doing it to support his family."

"What a good kid. When I was his age, I was in college working towards a useless, shitty degree. Look at where I'm at now!" He said, praising Gianni.

"Do you think this war will end soon?" I asked in a serious tone.

"I sure as hell hope it does,"

He pulled his Screen out of his pocket and showed me a newspaper article.

"I read this in the morning. The Allies have a weapon called Prometheus."

"I've heard of that."

"The President announced that they used it in some place in Citadel One called Washington."

"Did they really?"

"It apparently destroyed half of the entire district. They're trying to force Wallingford to surrender. Now, depending on how he reacts, he'll either do that or fight even harder than ever before. I hope it's the first one."

"That thing's capable of ripping things up all the way down to the atom. There's no way it didn't kill any civilians." I said, aware of its devastating capacity.

"No one from the Allies is saying anything. They don't want to reveal the fact that they have blood on their hands."

"I just want it to end. It's bullshit. Omar, I wanna ask you something. When was the last time you felt normal? When was the last time people could live on the surface, like we were meant to?"

"30 years ago. When the Narks started to fuck shit up."

"Exactly. Neither of us were alive back then. We've never been normal. Or, maybe we've been living in a new normal, a fucked up one."

Omar looked at me with pain and confusion, as if his whole life had been a lie.

"You know what," he said. "Lunch is just about to wrap up, let's go get the passengers. We're heading to the summit of Pichincha for the rest of the day, so we gotta leave now." He said in an effort to get away from our conversation.

I conceded, following him down the stairs of the orange bus. Omar picked up his loudspeaker and started speaking to our clients in Spanish. We had a job to do, and we were gonna get through to it right away.