43. Who is Next?

The tale of the great escape continued for the two. The machine continued making its way underwater, and scenes around were beautiful. The engine did struggle a bit in going forward, but the amount of oxygen as well as the fuel seemed to be full, and there seemed to be no chance of any problem there. The escape seemed to be certain at that point, and this journey was surely leading them away from the island. The pursuing machines were still left at the same spot and so the chase was cut off leaving nobody on their tail. There were more hunting machines on the prowl around the island, but there seemed to be nothing on their way. The path underwater was the safer one during those moments. Land was no longer the place for normal people, as far as they were concerned.

“I didn’t think about talking about this earlier, but this was a fine choice, I have to say” said C1RC221.

“I will keep my luck as long as it serves like this; everyone needs some luck, without which humans are nothing” said a proud V221KA.

“There are creatures around us though. I hope none of them are that harmful” wondered C1RC221.

“They are just mutated forms of sea life. We should just ignore them” remarked V221KA.

“Just like us, you say” added C1RC221.

“Not as good as we are, that is for sure” said V221KA.

“That was always the point, wasn’t it? To make us better than the rest, but not in the appropriate way”.

“Yes, but we are better in not just one thing, right?” asked V221KA.

“Being mindless is the better option when we are homeless” said C1RC221.

“We will make new home out of nowhere. It is no big deal” remarked V221KA.

“My home used to be around here only – I have some memory of it; they are buried deep under, but I can find them on another day” said C1RC221.

“That is a story of a long gone past. We have the scope to create new ones”.

“Well, it still exists, even if not in a solid form” said C1RC221.

The machine hit some of the vegetation on the way, but it kept going with not trouble. There was nothing that strong under water to stop their journey, at least until then. A lot of underwater vegetation was already destroyed by the wars. The water at that area was kind of contaminated with all those chemicals being dumped from the islands around, but still safe enough to go through in a machine. There was no comparison to the world before the big wars, as the change had occured, and it seemed to be permanent. War was more like a sporting event, and the dictators kept asking for more and more medals to assert their own supremacy. This was one Olympics that no common man was really fond of watching or being a part of, but what choice did they actually have?

The world had become smaller with the wars, and the effects of terror and mass destruction was seen everywhere. Death was only a temporary happening, and what was worse included all which was to follow later. But nobody was finished with those wars yet, for it was something that repeated itself, maybe towards eternity. There was the need for blood, and there was also the requirement for more than that – there was always going to be the struggle for more, what was rather justified in many names. It was not just about humanity, as the rest of the creatures had also changed, or rather evolved to suit the situations of war. This new world order based on war did become the beginning stage for another evolution, something that humans wouldn’t have loved to see occur.

“You have been holding on to the past for a little too long; which is why it is coming back to you – it will be of no more use to you except related to providing all the pain which you never deserved”.

“It is my past; it will only keep coming back to me at some point or the other” added C1RC221.

“What exactly is that?” asked V221KA.

“My past, and nothing else” replied C1RC221.

“That can’t be your past; I am not agreeing to that” remarked V221KA.

“What? You haven’t seen my past yet” said C1RC221.

“I am not talking about that! Look straight ahead” yelled V221KA.

“Oh! This is not going to be good!” screamed C1RC221.

The scene quickly shifted from relief to big trouble. There was a giant creature ahead, which looked like an octopus, but they were sure that it was certainly not that, with such huge size. Even so deep under water, its eyes were shining red in colour, and it kept looking straight at the metallic thing which had invaded what seemed to be its territory. Completely black in colour with its body, it had twelve arms instead of eight, and it stretched its arms towards the machine. V221KA tried to move it to one side and evade the arms, but even as they managed to go past two of them, the third arm got hold of their vehicle. It dragged the machine towards its side while the engines tried to push it away from the creature.

“We have come so far, and maybe we did get so close, but I guess this is how it ends” murmured C1RC221.

“We are certainly not done yet” yelled V221KA while trying her best to power the machine enough to move away from the arms of the creature that continued to pull it hard. The battle was on, and on one side, it was just about survival and nothing else.

To be continued…

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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…

32. Ships and Humans

The ship was anchored and ready with a connection and pathway made to the harbour through the virtual gate. The lesser guards came out of the ship to fill the old war machine with supplies again, and also to fine something for themselves. There was not really anything of interest there, but the guards had been to worse places. They had found meaning right among the corpses of their own people as well as the mutilated bodies of their enemies. It was something with which they were good at.

Noah and Jack climbed abroad while the last guard had gone to buy a smoke. They were not the first illegal immigrants to board the ship, even though they were not illegal, but true citizens of the city. So, the sensors on the ship were not going to detect them as illegals, even though the city would, with their latest databases calling their names as the convicts as they were surely the most wanted ones now.

“So, we might reach the city after all. The sensors didn’t detect us. The ships don’t upload the data from the city. It is a good thing” said Noah.

“Still, it will change the second we go through the security at the city harbour” added Jack.

“It has to be well-planned, or we are going to die” said Noah.

“We are not just going to die; we are going to be brutally murdered” corrected Jack.

“You know how to make things sound worse” said Noah.

“We should choosen to stay inside those baskets. What we are doing is the worst idea ever” said Jack.

“Well, there was that opportunity, and we had to take it”.

“But what if we can’t hide well enough here? If we were hidden inside the baskets, we would stay hidden until we reach there” Jack added his opinion.

“What if one of them opens a basket? There is no guarantee about the transport which goes from here. The guards are also tired and hopeless people. They will surely look to take something from the baskets for themselves. The city is happy to have anything from this part of the world, and so they will not check for everything. They will just see if the goods are inside the packets and that there is no contamination”.

“What if we could have gotten into a basket which is under every other? We could sneak away the second it goes into the system for security checking”.

“I doubt that. Yes, it was the only idea when we couldn’t go through the guards. But we could just get in without trouble. So this is the better idea. We can get a disguise and get out of the ship when the guards set foot there. It is actually a simpler thing. We won’t get locked in the baskets, ship cellars or the security wing if this goes on in the right way”.

“So, there is a right way for this?” asked Jack.

“Yes, I am thinking about it. I hope you do too” said Noah.

“Considering the condition of this ship, I wonder if we need to get down on land at all” murmured Jack.

“Well, it is pretty much terrible. But this has been enough for so long, and I expect it to complete a few more journeys”.

“You are not the expert. Actually, you are not the expert in any of these. Neither was that ghostly thing. What was his name again?” asked Jack.

“It was something with three letters, and all those letters were the same”.

“What is this? You are coming up with a puzzle?” asked Jack.

“No, I just can’t remember. I was always thinking about the next move and I forgot this one” said Noah.

“Yes, it was TTT. I remember it now. He talked about too many things, and now we are here, with lessons learnt from a ghost who doesn’t even expand his initials. What kind of ghost tells people his initials and not the name?” asked Jack.

“Well, I don’t know any other ghosts, and I am not sure if they follow a protocol related to their worldly or spiritual names”.

“Do you know that the chance for our deaths has just increased because we are standing here in the open surrounded by guards and the ghost won’t really mind that?” asked Jack.

“I am fully aware of the situation. But we have to complete what we started” said Noah.

“I agree to it. But I am tired. I have less hope these days. May be we should have waited. There is no revolution in the city as we had hoped. I am not sure about it any more.” said Jack.

“Still, we are not done yet, and neither is the revolution” said an optimistic Noah.

“We will know the truth soon enough, but lets just hope that we will be alive to know that” said Jack.

The ship sounded the horn seven times. It was getting ready to leave. The time given the former soldiers to wander around and collect what was need, was over. There was not much of the time provided, and most of them usually had to hurry. There was chance of a storm and so more time was cut from the schedule. The guards rushed back to the ship with the supplies and the products which needed to be at the city. The big baskets were taken into the ship on trolleys.

The guards assembled at the main deck area and attendance marking was done. The head count was once again correct, and a signal was given to the captain for the ship to start its journey to the city. The ship had its own problems, and it slowly started moving after jerking for a few minutes. It struggled to get the engine back working again, and after fifteen minutes, it manages to be back to being normal again as it moved towards the homeland where it was created. The storm was coming closer from the right side, and the ship was sliding towards the left.

To be continued…