42. More of Hope

That was one sight which brought the positivity back to the scene. There was the machine that looked like a space ship, or rather a hybrid having the hovercraft elements too. Completely black in colour, it was part square and part spherical, and there were two seats inside it, visible through the windows which were also round. The wings of the machine extended towards both sides twisting in between. There were no levers or steering inside the machine, but there was a screen which showed nothing other than the message that said “Screen Locked”. It seemed to be the best scene that could be part of their eyes. There was something that could make a difference.

“Do you think that this thing can fly or at least run? Do you think that they kept it here because it is faulty?” asked V221KA while looking outside at the sea.

“I don’t think that we can be sure about it. There will be a lot of risk involved even if we manage to get it started. We are not trained for this” said C1RC221 as she looked around for some information about it.

“You mean to say that we can crash and just die. We can end up in the depths of the sea or burn to death on this island itself” wondered V221KA.

“Yes, it is rather an easy thing to understand, isn’t it?” asked C1RC221.

“There is still a chance that we might get off this island, and even if we crash in water, there will be safety measures in the ship”.

“Only if we can access them, right?” asked C1RC221.

“Lets go in and check then. It is pointless to waste our time doing nothing. What lies ahead of us is enormous”.

“Okay, in case there is the option for auto-pilot, something can be done”.

They got inside the machine and with a welcome sign, the screen automatically got enabled. There was the manufacturing date and name of the model displayed there on the top. It showed a map of the island with their location highlighted as a triangle in red. There were arrows towards all direction with the names of some locations unknown to them. A red button was glowing with the writing, ‘Begin here’.

“I didn’t know that this one came with an instruction manual. I wonder if they add the next steps too, unless this is full auto-pilot towards these destinations. Well, any place which is not this island should be a fine option for me” remarked C1RC221.

“Well, you really can’t avoid the positives here, can you? Haven’t we been negative for so long?” asked V221KA.

After having a quick look around, she pressed the button after touching one of the locations outside the island and the doors of the machine closed. There was the sound of the engine charging and starting to work. It felt as if it wasn’t used for a very long time. The machine started jerking and took a turn to go out into the sea. Suddenly, the alarms were triggered, and a screaming sound was heard. The machine started moving as a hovercraft over the sea, and the outposts began searching for the origin of the alarm.

“This doesn’t sound good, but at least we are out of there. Every moment there was nothing less than torture” remarked a relieved C1RC221.

“Yes, it is not done yet, but we are on our way” added V221KA.

One of the lights from an outpost caught hold of the machine in its path, and it remained on the spotlight as all lights converged on it. They could hear announcements about a lost scouting machine and missing prisoners. They pushed the button which had the picture of a video camera, and by pressing the zoom button on one of them, they could view a number of armed machines taking off from the launching pads on the sides of the outposts.

“We are about to be hunted! We are going to be brought down!” exclaimed a worried C1RC221.

“Find some of the useful buttons. We have come this far, and there has to be way out of here too. Maybe there will be some weapons in here” said V221KA.

“Didn’t you hear the announcement? This is a scouting machine. The purpose was always to seek and find, not to engage” yelled C1RC221.

“Maybe it is. But scouts also keep the basic weapons in case there is some kind of emergency. Or maybe they are announcing the same to confuse us. We have to keep looking through all the options available on the screen. Maybe it is hidden further inside so that it can’t be accessed by everyone” said V221KA.

“No, not that way, that is the wrong option. You shouldn’t do that” screamed C1RC221.

“I think I know what is to be done here. This option actually looks good” replied V221KA.

With one press of a button, the ship stopped for a second in mid-air, and dived deep into the sea. It kept going underwater, and stopped at a point from where it began to move straight forward. The purusuing machines reached the location on which the machine was last seen over water. They wandered around the place and kept sending information to the outposts which were passed on to the base.

“Well, told you so” said a proud V221KA.

“You have a fine amount of luck with you, I think” said C1RC221.

To be continued…

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37. Rain and the Woods

As the guards were going through their duties and the trucks from the city had covered more than half kilometres towards the area, they walked through the forests. The rain continued to come down strong. The cleared path to the coast went through the middle and it was used by the vehicles which always kept inside the fences and prevented any creature or random nomads from the forest from entering inside. The security department of the city was really concerned about someone who is not part of their plans entering what they called the perfect world. Noah and Jack made sure that no scout vehicle could find them as they kept going further away from the road. There was thick vegetation all around and it made things difficult, but it was always going to be tough, and it was better than giving any chance of being captured.

“There is water everywhere on the ground. There is only this muddy water with some leaves and branches and nothing else” said Noah.

“This area is known for floods. We have read in the newspapers about the floods which have happened here in the last few years, which brought the water up-to a height of a four-storeyed building. They say that it is partially responsible for the death of most of the wildlife here, and the remaining animals travel to the wastelands which is at a higher location” said Jack.

“How can we believe all which were written in those newspapers? You know the media better than I do, and you have even been an indirect part of one such firm. They are just part of the government propaganda and I believe that we already agreed to the same long ago, didn’t we?” asked Noah.

“Well, we did. But in this case, if they were involved in anything happening around here, they could just write it down without trouble. They have already made it clear that all their activities in the forests were for capturing the rebels who were trying to destroy the city and their righteous way of life. So, they never really needed the floods as a reason. They could always use the excuse of the rebels as no common civilian from the city will be coming here, and we can be sure about that” said Jack.

“There can always be partial truth, because it is not easy to keep something hidden forever. Everything comes to light, one way or the other. You can’t hide everything from everyone forever, because in the end, we are humans with the ability to think and a certain amount of curiosity, no matter how much of brainwashing happens. We actually have many examples for this throughout the history” Noah came up with his opinion.

“As of now, it seems clear that there will be some flood, even if it is not that much heavy. We will need to find the high grounds at the end of the forest. We can’t be sure how early it will happen if the rain keeps falling down like this” said Jack as he started walking faster, ahead of Noah.

“This water level is coming up too fast. I didn’t even know that this was the rainy season, and this might be the first time that it rained so hard during this time of the year. Well, after all those destruction which we had given nature, asking for seasons has been a bad idea from a long time ago” remarked Noah as both of them started running through the forest.

They could feel the trucks passing through the path on the side of the forests, as these trucks used the most powerful engines available; the hovercraft mode was on because of the flooding which sent water through the paths – it meant that the trucks were now moving slower. The dual technology was limited to the trucks going outside the city because the pumps made sure that the world inside the walls was never flooded, and the elite class never really requred these vehicles. So they could be slower and of lower level technology. This technical side also meant that the trucks could go at their full speed only when they were fully trucks. The paths were actually located at a lower level than the forests, because it was made on the same elevation as the deserts and the wastelands which were lower areas. The hovercraft technology was needed, but an advanced one was yet not provided to the departments working outside the walls of the city unless they were part of a military wing. The guards will have to wait more with the flood worsening every minute. Jack and Noah felt confident that they could actually be aroung the walls of city by the time the trucks returned after loading the people and the goods.

The situation was not going to get any better. The thunder and lightning made sure that there was a certain amount of fear in the air along with the lowering of temperature which had happened. There were no animals on their way, even though some birds were seen flying around, but they had also gone now. The two stopped to see that a rock stood before them and what was on the other side of the forest. They said in their minds that it was the wasteland which came after the forest, and they started climbing the slippery rocks from a side which was not that steep. The rain came down stronger and the water level behind them had risen to almost their own heights. The cadaver of an animal was floating on water towards them. The water behind them turned into red as waves of blood hit the rocks. Jack looked behind to see eyes under water at a spot where blood made way for something else. He called for Noah as the bright eyes came out of water.

To be continued…