Short Stories:

[deborahinwi]

I am posting this in three parts. The first three parts are finished, will be working on the next part now.


Madness
(Part 1)

The city shone like a jewel. Clean white buildings towered over sparkling
clean trains, running noiselessly over the elevated electric tracks. For
ten thousand years, the great bubble had covered and protected the
city from the huge solar fire storms which threw out mammoth arms of flame
from the depths of the great red planet hanging in their sky. This bubble
was accompanied by another, much smaller appendage. This second shield,
not nearly as large, had been built by the pioneers who had come in large,
lumbering ships. They had built their city, which, in only 300 years, had
become over-crowded, dirty, and squalid. The lower city then became home to vicious,
marauding gangs, and with them came disease, and plagues. The city became
abandoned and forgotten, shut off from the upper, new city. No one lived there
now, or so the Elite Tribunal taught.

The "Elite Tribunal" was the small council who controlled the city.
They got the best of everything first, before it was rationed- they then rationed the leftovers out
to the people.
They made the laws, passed judgment on those who broke
those laws. They controlled the actions of the population in every aspect of daily
life. You were told where to live. Every couple was allowed to have one child. When
a child was born, it was immediately reported to the tribunal clinic.
The child's life was controlled from that time on.

Work was all but outmoded. The few who did work only did so a few days of the year
that was necessary. They were the mere handful that worked in the vast city of
millions..

These few had a unique bond between
them because they knew things about the city no one else did. All the
unknown passages, tunnels, airways, water supply pipes, chemical dumps,
body disposals, were mapped in their minds.They also had families back
in the old city. This part of the city was abandoned, save for the few
that hid out there. If they were discovered, they would be rounded up
and sent to disposal centers.

There were also a few who were called Prophets. These would go out into
the higher city and loudly rage of the wonders of freedom, of making your
own choices, to anyone who would listen.
Every so often, one of them would disappear. No one knew what became
of them. One had returned, in the dark of night, telling of the terrible
things he had heard. Humans being bred like cattle and used in horrible
experiments. Small children being taken away to "Training Centers,"
to learn to spy on their families.

The Tribunal was plotting a great round-up, to be executed and
carried out in just a few weeks. This was to take place in the lower part of the
city, which was connected to the old city by a single, large open tunnel.
All were to be taken to the vast experimental laboratory at the center of
the city, and separated by age and usefulness. The old were to be disposed of,
for use as food. The rest were to be used for reproduction and genetic
experimentation.

The men began trying to find ways of bringing their families into the
upper city. Then came news of round-ups already started. The old city filled
with refugees fleeing from the trackers, as the surprise raids came to each
part of the city. Soon it was heard the Tribunal had gone mad, and raids had
spread to even the upper city. The population of this city of millions, the
only one left in existence, started to plummet downwards, to only a few thousand.
Genetic experiments were a dismal failure, soon leaving the planet with only
a few hundred survivors. These survivors quickly dwindled down to nothing.....

Spinning through space, alone, there is a lifeless, black planet. Deadly,
scorching winds blow around it unceasingly. It will remain this way, down through
centuries of time. Until at last, it too slows, and comes to a dead stop.



Copyright 2006
D. Fleck

[deborahinwi]

The Tunnel People
(Madness Part 2)

Prologue

Scorching desert winds blew across a desolate landscape.
For two hundred years, strange diseases had plagued
mankind. The most highly trained doctors had been able to do nothing
to stop the sickness from spreading.
Now the population of the earth numbered but a few hundred, and
these lived underground, in man made tunnels scooped out of the
unyielding earth by hard labor. Some said they had already been there
for a thousand years, built by a man called Ezekial. Others scoffed,
claiming it was by their labor they had been created. No one really
knew how they had come to be.
It was the end of life as people had known it. The great caves of
the earth were now inhabited by the dregs of mankind, scratching out
their miserable existence from day to day.
Government had long ceased to exist, there was no law. Major food
sources were destroyed.
-----------------------

It sat on the edge of the vast city, a towering, sparkling monolith,
surrounded by acres of sanitary white concrete. It was the center of all
scientific activity in the world. Within the halls of this great city within
a city, things were carried out that were not uttered outside of the
scrupulously guarded walls. Sinister experiments that could not be
explained or described by any method that was anything short of bizarre
were conducted here...

The white door slid open with a soft whooshing sound as a young man
hurried from the sterile room. He had always hated this part of the
building, shuddering in unrepressed horror as he hurried through the
maze of corriders.
Jacob Holmes was the youngest doctor on the staff, working under his
brother, who was ten years his senior. He had had his grandeur illusions
at first, when he had been accepted onto the tribunal staff. The jobs
description had mentioned nothing of the strange procedures that were
performed on a daily basis.
His last illusion had been brutally torn from him the day they had
brought in the small boy for genetic experimantation and "electrical
stimulation study" as they had called it. He was told the boy had
been taken from the old city, which, until then, was beleived to
have been uninhabited...

"Dammit, not again!" The exclamation echoed through the large room.
John stared angrily at the duplicated charts, whose slanted handwriting
was clearly his brothers.
Who in this hellish place did he think he was anyway? Over the last
three years it had been discovered that records had been either
duplicated, or had gone missing entirely. Almost from the beginning
he had known...

Acrid winds blew over the old city, lifting reeking piles of refuse
into swirling cyclones of filth. Here lived the meanest of humanity,
in narrow, dank alleys. The few who endured in this place were widely
scattered throughout the old city.
Low voices could be heard coming from a tiny hovel, hushed, as though
any sound penetrating the foul night air would bring swift death, or
worse yet, trackers.
A muffled sob, barely suppressed, was the only other sound heard.
"Where is the end, where is the end!" The old woman cried out. "I
have lived nigh unto ninety years, and have not seen the promised
deliverer come! It's a cursed lie, all of it!"
"No, old woman, I tell you the truth!" Jacob exclaimed. "Have I ever
told you otherwise?" The old woman stared in shock at the white
paper in her wrinkled hand. All those years ago, and she had never
known. They had used her as a breeder! She had fainted dead away...

Jacob sat in the hot night air of the upper city, wondering what to do
about the trouble he faced. In the last three years he had visited the
old woman a countless number of times, each time faithfully bringing
her news of the city, as well as the stolen copies of medical records.
Now the risk had become to great, the visits had been to frequent. He
had noticed the shadowy figures on his treks to the old city. He shook
his head sadly, for on the last visit he had told her of the danger.
Upon recieving the news, she had begun immediate preparation to leave.
He had hugged her and quickly bid her a goodbye, not wanting any clue
as to where she would go. She had made the solumn promise to keep
his papers safely hidden. He rose slowly and walked into the night...

"Yes, I had him followed, and have for a long time!" John retorted
angrily. He had stood and faced the Tribune before, over this same
situation. "I know he is my brother, but I can't watch him every
minute."
"Do you know we have the power to dispose of you both?" This sinister
voice came from a darkened corner. "Word of what we have done is
starting to reach the people!"
"And just what is it we have done? We have made phenomanel advances
in both science and medicine in the last few years. There have been
a few setbacks and failures, but they were all very minimal, in my
opinion." All this was voiced by an increasingly uncomfortable John
Holmes, who knew this might be the end of everything as he knew it.
"Are any of us willing to throw away years of work and research,
just because my ignorant ass of a brother has, in so many words,
screwed up again?"
"He has betrayed us!" The voice came like thunder. "We have decided
to put an end to it. Even as we speak, the hunting parties have been
sent out! And as for you, my fellow comrade, you are now under arrest!"
---------------------------

The hunched figure cautiously picked it's way through the rocky hills.
Watching eyes soon distinguished it as a man, whose raw, bleeding hands
and feet left clear blood trails across the rocks. For long minutes
the eyes watched, then retreated back into dark shadows to report the
discovery...

Ten long years had passed since that hot, lonely summer night. He had
walked away from everything, family, career, life. He was pondering the
irony of it when a sentry burst in, rudely interrupting his thoughts.
"Hey doc, we found some guy crawling around out in the outcrops this
morning. He was raving about some guy he kept calling "The Old One".
And he kept saying your name, over and over!"
Jacob started up in shocked surprise. It's not possible, he thought to
himself. He's dead. "Ok Sam, take me to him, we'll see who this could be,"
he told the sentry. He followed the man throught the winding tunnels,
where they had hidden for all this time. A few short minutes brought
them to the small side chamber, where the lone man waited. He braced
himself, and stepped through the door.
"We had to fix him up a bit, doc". The sentry spoke from the doorway.
He looked at the man sitting on a long cot, heavy bandages covered hands
and feet. "That's fine Sam". He spoke slowly, keeping the edge from his
voice with some trouble.
He sat in a chair across from the man, whose eyes widened in disbelief
as they focused on him. "Your dead!" Came the single exclamation, in a
cracked, old voice...

"The night they arrested me, they told me you were dead, killed by a
patrol. Then they just stuck me in prison to rot, which is exactly
what I did, for months". John spoke through the voice of an old man.
"Then the lab technicians decided I would make a good subject to
experiment on". He glanced toward the doorway. "They told me my family
was dead, every one of them. I didn't see any reason to try and live
after that. I was taken to the human experimentation wing, and that's
where I spent the next ten years." Horror shone out of his eyes.
"There were several others there, besides me. The old woman in the
cage across from me was the one who used to bring us sweets and tell
us stories. Do you remember her? She was treated the worst because
she was old. What they did to her would not be done to the lowest of
animals. She only lasted a few weeks...

"Every day in that place was a battle to survive. I prayed they would
just finish me, but that wasn't what they had in mind. They didn't
intend for us to die, they kept us alive as long as possible".
He shook his head and shuddered as he recalled the end of the ordeal.
"At the end, I was one of only twenty lab specimans left. They had
done all their experimenting on us until their was nothing left. We
were all just waste now, to be disposed of". He laughed bitterly as
he rose and slowly walked around the room.
"The young lab assistant was to load us into the waste truck and take
us to the disposal dump. Instead, he drove us straight through the
front security gate, and out of the Upper city. I didnt have to
wonder what price he paid for that!"
Loud shouts echoed down the tunnel into the room where they sat,
interrupting their conversation. A young sentry burst in exclaiming
loudly, "The lower city is being raided!"


Copyright 2006
D. Fleck

[deborahinwi]

Betrayal- (Madness) Part 3

Huge sand columns rose above the desert floor. Beneath these a long
caravan travelled at a frightening speed, whose tires kicked up the
great dirt devils until they could barely be seen.
As they approached the city, slowing to a crawl, several silent
figures leapt from the sides, where they had been clinging, trying
to escape the billowing sand. They quickly ran to the backs of the
huge trucks, opening the securely locked doors. The guards looked
inside, making quick note of the contents, then waved them through.
They passed speedily throught the silent streets, and to the high
walled disposal center. A queer silence hung over the city, adding a
strangeness to the scene. On stopping, the doors were once again
flung open, and the hapless victims dragged out. Upon discovering
where they had been taken, a shrill wailing pierced the air...

The fires that had been burning for days had finally been extinguished,
and the black smoke had finally started to clear. The view left behind
was hideous to behold. Scores of burned figures lay in all manner of
grisly poses. A few aimless figures wandered about, lost, not knowing
what to do.
The figure of a small ragamuffin squatted amoung the refuse, vainly
attempting to pick food scraps out of the filth. The small head lifted
as a party of ragtag soldiers emerged from the grim battleground. The
little girl stood upright to watch them pass. A lone figure stepped
from the column, pulling something from the pack on his back. He bent,
handing it to the tiny urchin. He patted the little head and returned
to his place as she hungrily gnawed the bread he had given her...

The column had been walking for hours, and had long given up keeping
the rigid order. They had walked across the outcrops for three days.
Upon reaching the battleground and discovering they were to late, they
rested for short time, then sadly began the task of laying out in rows
the countless bodies left on the field. It would take days to bury
them all...

"We have been burying bodies for seven days already, with no end in
sight. Our patrols have been scouting the territory for as long. They
are as tired as the rest of us, and ready to drop." This simple
statement was made by an exhausted Jacob Holmes, who had collapsed into
a makeshift bed. He addressed the small group assembled in the large
underground tunnel chambers. They included him, his brother, two
other young docters who had escaped, and most of the lead sentries.
He looked across the bed at John and the young docters. "I know you
three were at greatest risk, going out into the open country like
you did. I thank you for all your help." John smiled tiredly. "They
are our people too, brother. We are all in this together!"...

They slept for hours, the sleep of the dead. No one was aware of the
silent figure which slipped from the hidden caves and turned shrouded
face towards the upper city...

"I had not missed him for three days, until I needed some lab results
from him." The statement came from the young docter who had been
assisting Jacob. "We are at a major breakthrough here, then this
happens!" Jacob looked around at them. "Well, I guess we all know
what this means, dont we? I will call in all patrols, we will need
them all!" On this, he arose and quickly exited the room. Hurrying
down the run, he met one of the girls from the lab. She had hold of
a tiny child. "Docter, I found her outside the caves, poking around
in the rubbish." She told him quickly. "We will have to deal with
that later!" His answer had echoed down the tunnel as he rushed
towards the surface...

She had stood and watched the long column of men disappear into the
distance. She had known they were coming. The dreams had told her.
She hadnt known when, but she knew they were. She had also seen his
face. the soldier who had given her bread. Sadness and despair had
been mirrored in his face.
Her village was gone, as were those she had lived with. No one had
known how old she was, or how she had come to be there. It didnt
matter now, it never had. There were other things she had seen also,
things she didnt understand. After watching them until they were
out of sight, she had decided to follow them. As she set out after
them, the strange vision of a blood covered moon flashed through
her mind. It had been so fleeting she thought she had imagined it,
and had simply dismissed it.
She had followed the patrol carefully, using all the tricks she had
learned to stay hidden all the way back to the caves. Everything
had gone as she wanted until she made the mistake of coming out of
hiding during the day.
Now, as she sat in the corner, listening to all the preparation
for war, she finally began to understand the terrible dreams she
had had for the last twelve years of her life.
When the women had discovered her, and brought her to the docter,
they had both recognized each other instantly! This was the soldier
who had given her the bread!
He had stared at her in complete surprise before hurrying about
his duties.