Activation Sequence 103

Battle Ground

Chaos; complete, utter, all-consuming chaos.My senses were overwhelmed by the sudden confusion around me.

This was the Engine Room, the heart of the massive city. My vision was obscured by thick tendrils of smoke bellowing out of the four main contraptions. Sparks flashed through the veil, like some unnatural phantom or apparition.

As Alga walked forward, the smoke seemed to part to reveal the scene of pandemonium I could only hear until now. Fear gripped my heart at the sight.

Bullets soared; lasers zapped; sonic Blasters thundered.  I took in my surroundings in a flash: the upturned tables from the festival display; the frayed banners hanging limply in mirthless celebration; the jagged shard of glass from lanterns blown to smithereens were all amongst the things which I happened to notice.

Interspersed between the workers in tattered ceremonial outfits of reds and greens, were the intruders. Clad in white, armoured clothing, they each carried an impressive array of firearms. Each wore a helmet of sorts, making it impossible to tell them apart. They bounded nimbly from metal beam to metal beam that were criss-crossing the chamber overhead.

Mere seconds of observation were enough to tell that we were fighting a hopeless battle. My sense of duty, though, hammered from years of city-wide propaganda, forbade me from giving up. We must win. We must fight!

Before I realised what I was doing, I was tumbling out of Alga’s hold, falling onto my knees, scrambling weakly for one of the disposed weapons. A sudden rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins, as a sense of defiance overwhelmed me. Alga grabbed me from behind.

‘What are doing,’ she demanded, as her arms encircled my crouching form in a restraining manner.

‘We have to help them,’ I hissed back. ‘We have to stop the enemy!’

‘Why should we? It is not our fight.’

‘We’ve got to defend the city!’

‘No. We’ve got to escape. I am leaving, and if you have any sense, so will you.’

 ‘Fine!’ I raised the Blaster to shoulder level with renewed strength, taking aim, but before I could fire, her arms came back, lifting me above her head.

‘Let me down!’ I cried.

‘Honestly Fredrick you have been brain-washed by the propaganda garbage they broadcast. Surely we owe nothing to these people who threw us in a dungeon and left us to rot.’

‘Because we’re criminals! We deserve it.’

‘Do you really believe that Fredrick? Think of how many people are down there, unable to flee because they committed some petty crime or another.’

I sighed in resignation. She was wrong, for the punishments may be harsh, but that was merely to prevent people from straying and committing great crimes and atrocities. And although I thought that leaving these people to their own fate during an air raid was too harsh a punishment, I could easily view the situation from their perspective.  But we didn’t have time to argue.

Besides, for although a number of the people were defending the city, I could see that the majority were already fleeing towards an open hatch at the far end of the room, for the most part carrying toddlers and wailing children on their arms. I couldn’t understand why they even bothered – it was highly doubtful that there will be any ships remaining to evacuate the children.

I was returned to my previous position in Alga’s arms as she set of determinedly towards the exit. It is astounding, how she manages to twist and swerve, snake-like, evading all incoming projectiles.