Results tagged “CARMEL” from City Eternal

"There has to be brakes, how else would it stop?" Jon said nervously.

"No, I'm serious! There's no stop, no brakes, nothing!" Michael said furiously.

Jonathan and Michael went into a panic, which in turn put the rest of us in a panic. They combed through the control panel as fast and carefully as they could, looking for any reason why the brakes wouldn't be working.

"If we can't stop we'll have to jump off," Tobias said.

"Are you crazy?" I replied. "Look at the speed we're going at!"

"It's better than reaching the end of the rail and crashing into a wall!"

At this point we all broke out into an argument over the best way to deal with this increasingly dangerous situation. I wasn't sure myself how long we had until we reached the end of the rail, but I did know we were rapidly approaching our destination. For a moment I thought I heard Anna say something, but I ignored it, continuing to argue with Jon about how idiotic he must be to forget something so important. But then she yelled louder and there was no mistake.

"HEY!" she screamed.

We all fell silent for a second and looked at her.

"Can't we just put the tram in reverse?"

Jon and Michael looked at each other for a moment before it dawned on them. They both turned around and poked a few things on the control panel before the tram lurched again and began to slow down.

"You mean to tell me neither of you thought of something so simple?!" Sienna exclaimed, her hands at her hips. The two just hung their heads in shame.

I unzipped my hoodie and threw it off. It wasn't any warmer out, but I was sweating terribly. Up ahead I could see the next platform, which I assumed was our destination. There didn't appear to be an open stairwell to this one, however. Instead was just a small staircase which leads up to a large outcropping on the surface ceiling. My legs were already sighing in relief. I was not looking forward to climbing all those stairs back to the surface.

"Alright everyone, up ahead is our stop. We'll be heading up those stairs about two floors and once inside that building, we'll be very close to the CARMEL. From here on out there is a strong chance we'll be encountering security systems so be careful and keep your eyes on me in case I stumble upon something." Tobias laid out for us.

The arrival was hardly as smooth and quiet as Tobias had originally hoped for, with the tram jumping and rocking viciously the last couple hundred feet. When it did finally come to a rest, we all stepped off, and I took the time to stretch out again after being tossed around like a ragdoll.

"That was scary!" Anna said.

"Without a doubt, Anna." I agreed, glaring at Jonathan.

Once we were all composed, we headed up the stairs, Tobias once again taking the leader position. He continued to refer to his notebook. Once we reached the surface building, he looked at some signs on the wall and held the notebook up next to them.

Tobias then ushered us to follow. We climbed another couple flights of stairs until he put his hand up to stop us.

He then approached a grate on the wall. He indicated for Jon to come forward.

"Can you get this grate out of here, without triggering the pressure alarm behind it?" he asked.

"I can try," Jonathan offered.

He stepped forward and once again placed his hands on the grate. Slowly but carefully he melted the grate to a pile of molten steel. He was careful to leave the frame of the grate intact, so as not to trigger the alarm. He then reached inside, and also melted two large metal bars that were obstructing the path.

"That should do it."

Tobias thanked Jon and told him to take the front position, in case there were any other obstructions inside that would need to be taken care of.

Following Jon, Tobias said "Once we're inside we need to be silent. While they don't use audio sensors this deep inside the compound, there is staff inside at all hours. We can't risk them discovering us."

This was the most nerve-wracking part of the journey thus far. We no longer had plausible deniability to protect us from any curious police officers. If we were discovered now, we'd be forced to fight, and it was a long way back home.

For some reason I was stuck with taking up the rear this time. At this point I was glad I had worn my climbing gloves. The vent was ice cold, and although the gloves were open fingered, it was nice to be able to use the palms of my hands without freezing solid.

We climbed through the vent for at least ten straight minutes, taking various zigzagging paths that had me lost almost immediately. Tobias was continuing to follow his notebook, and nudged Jon to take a right turn here, and a left turn there. I was growing evermore curious to where that notebook came from and how he managed to scrounge up all this information, but now was hardly the time to be asking such questions.

Just when I was really wondering if this vent ever did end, we all stopped. I tried to look ahead to see what was going on, but Sienna's ridiculously flowery skirt was blocking my path. Don't ask me why her skirt jumped out at me so, it was just so … loud that I couldn't possibly ignore it.

Anyway, we started moving again, and finally I noticed that we had reached the end, as everyone began to climb out. The vent terminated under the floor of the CARMEL's datacenter, so Jonathan had disassembled the grate slowly rather than making an obvious melted gap. After we all had climbed out of the ventilation system, Tobias had us gather in a close huddle.

"Okay, this is it. Michael is going to break into the CARMEL's systems. Our job will be to give him as much time as he needs to get the data. You all know what you have to do. Just keep quiet and be on the watch for anything suspicious." Tobias said.

We nodded, and Michael rushed off to the main computer terminal in the room. He immediately went to work, his hands becoming a blur on the keyboard as they coaxed the computer into giving him what he wanted.

Anna took a seat and concentrated on locating the presence of others inside the datacenter.

"There are fourteen people around us. None of them seem to know we're here." She said, confirming our successful infiltration of the datacenter.

"Good work, Anna, now let us know if any of them get close to this room," I said. Sienna and I then took a seat at the far entrance to the room. Jonathan and Tobias sat at the other door.

Michael kept us informed on how he was doing, but it was obvious that this was going to take some time. I knew the longer we stayed here the better the possibility of us being discovered, so I was desperately trying not to chew my nails.

Sienna glanced at me, and held my hand.

"It's alright, Yukari, they're not going to catch us. We'll make it out of here just fine." she said trying to calm my nerves.

"No, it's okay, I'm not worried," I lied.

After a few close calls, and nearly an hour of waiting, Michael finally gave us a soft cry of victory.

"I've got it!" he said excitedly, holding up a disk case.

He then tossed it to me for safekeeping. I put it in the messenger bag I was carrying. It was understood that I had the best chance of escaping the city if something happened, and the data was too valuable to lose.

We all had gathered around the vent where we had entered at this point, and I was more than happy to get the hell out of there. But then, without warning, Anna suddenly cried out, "They're coming!"

"What? How many?" Tobias asked.

"…at least twenty!"

"How close?"

"Really close!" she cried.

"We need to get out of here, no-" I started to say when there was a loud bang at one of the doors.

Not seconds later they surrounded us, weapons raised. It was the military, special forces. I looked at Tobias, waiting for the signal. Luckily we had planned for this situation. I was to take off with the data, while the others fought their way out. This way their forces would be split between trying to recover the data and to capture us.

"You are all under arrest for breaking and entering into a government facility, and for stealing top secret government data." The commander informed us.

A couple men then moved forward to handcuff us, when Tobias coughed, giving me the signal.

I gripped the messenger bag tightly, and took off as fast as I could over the rack of servers next to me. Tobias was correct, they wouldn't dare shoot in this room for fear of damaging CARMEL.

"What the hell? You two, with me, we're following her. The rest of you, cuff these guys and take them back to HQ." I heard the commander yell from behind me.

I burst through the door they came from, and started the brutal climb up the stairs. Finally I reached the surface level, and ran outside. Bad idea. Outside were three squads waiting for me. I dashed back inside, dodging gunfire that destroyed the glass windows and the door. I headed for the stairs again, planning to head for the roof, when I heard the elevator doors chime. Inside were the three from below.

Since I wasn't able to make it to the stairs themselves, I ran full out toward the wall, and ran up the wall. I only had a short distance to build up speed, so I just barely was able to jump off and reach the second level railing. I pulled myself up and over, and the men below began firing again, while running up the stairs.

They didn't have a chance now. I sprinted across the lobby's second floor to the other side where the stairs resumed, and climbed as fast as I could. Skipping four or five stairs at a time, and bouncing off the walls at each turn, I made it up the thirty six floors to the top, bursting through the door there to reach the roof.

I took a moment to look around, and found a good path to get out of there. Once again I ran full tilt, this time toward a neighboring building. Jumping off at the edge, I grabbed the fire escape on the side of the neighboring building. I heard the sound of a helicopter nearby, so I decided to go down a flight on the fire escape and break into the building through a window.

It was an empty office full of cubicles. I didn't bother to take in the scenery, and took off toward the other side of the building. With our cover blown, I had no reason to avoid using weapons, so I pulled out my pistol and fired at the window ahead. As the glass shattered, I threw myself out of it toward the building across the street.

Not having any time to regret my decision, I feverishly pulled the trigger at the oncoming glass wall approaching me. The glass shattered, and I landed in a roll inside the building. Doing my best to ignore the glass shards embedded in my backside, I kept running. At this point I had no clue as to where I was running to, but I had to do my best to keep my momentum up and lose that helicopter.

I took a right turn in this building, and shot out more glass. Leaping through, I then realized the building on the other side was not one of the newer buildings, instead featuring the older concrete design. With no way to simply blast my way through, I braced myself for impact with the wall.

I slammed into the wall, and couldn't avoid bouncing off of it. As I fell, I twisted myself around as quickly as possible, and managed to grab a ledge on the building with my fingertips. I wasn't able to hold on, but it gave me enough leverage to swing my legs back in and break through the window below.

After narrowly avoiding a fall, I shook the glass off of me and took a second to catch my breath and look for the helicopter. I could still hear it but I couldn't find it in the sky. I decided to the next building over, which looked to be at least a hundred stories tall. A new construction, it featured the new mirror glass design, rather than the old concrete.

I kicked out the window facing the building, and took a few steps back. And then a few more. And a few more. I did not want to miss this jump. When I felt satisfied I could get the necessary speed, I took off. Jumping through the window, I noticed that over the course of the past few jumps, I had lost a lot of altitude. I was only about five stories above the ground now.

This wasn't the best time to be making such observations, however, as I was flying through the air toward the oncoming building. I pulled out my pistol, fired off the last couple shots in the clip, and watched the glass slowly fall away. It was at this point as I fell toward the imploding window that I may have misjudged. Inside, it was suddenly apparent that I was about to fall into an open lobby, not an office floor. This was not going to be a good landing.

In an effort to not become a splat upon the marble floor inside the lobby, I grabbed the bottom edge of the broken glass window, dropping the empty pistol. A large piece of broken glass cut its way through my left hand, causing me to scream in pain and let go, while my right hand held on and left me hanging on the inside of this lobby, three stories above the ground.

Below was a security officer already on the radio, and I could see the lights from police and military coming down the street. I let go of the edge of the window, and slid partway down the glass wall, before kicking off and doing a roll. The security officer let go of his radio and pointed his gun at me.

"Put your hands in the air!" he ordered.

"Yeah right," I thought to myself. "Like I'm hanging around here to get captured."

I jumped into action, drawing the only sword I was able to carry without being too bulky, my wakizashi. He fired a couple shots at me, but I was already moving too fast for him to make contact. I cut his outstretched arm, causing him to drop the gun, and kneed him in the gut. He crumpled to the floor in pain. Satisfied, I took off for the elevators. No way in hell I was about to run up the hundred or so floors this building stood at.

Even though the elevator was one of those turbo lifts that rapidly brought people to the top of the building, the ride still felt like an eternity. Once I reached the top floor the elevator serviced, I ran out and climbed the stairs. Only two more floors up and I made it to the roof. I kicked the door open, only to be greeted by the sight of a helicopter and the commander from before stepping out.

"Drop the weapon, Yukari! We know who you are now!" He yelled over the sound of the helicopter engine. "You have nowhere to run, we have the entire building surrounded!"

I took a moment to consider my options. I doubt I could make it back down the building the way I came, the place was probably swimming with soldiers and policemen. Taking on the commander and a squad of soldiers onboard the helicopter was beyond even my superhuman ability.

I decided to drop my sword.

"Good, now show us the disk," the commander demanded.

I pulled out the disk case from my messenger bag and showed it to him. He slowly approached me and took it from my hand. Once he put it in his suit pocket and was about to bring out the handcuffs, I kicked him square in the chest, and grabbed my sword. I took off to the left as fast as I could toward the downward slanting part of the roof. He ran after me, the squad right behind him. I jumped over the edge and began to slide down the inclined glass roofing.

The commander reached the edge of the flat roof, and yelled down at me laughing, "You forgot your disk, Yukari!" He waved the disk case above his head as if to mock me.

As I slid down the roof with increasing speed, I pulled the disk out of my messenger bag that I had cleverly taken out of its case. I waved it above my head, and looked back at the commander with a grin.

His face went immediately from a victorious one to an angry one, and he ordered the squad to fire at me. The glass started shattering all around me, as I swerved left and right as best I could. The end of the incline was rapidly approaching, so I slipped the disk back in the messenger bag, and braced myself for a big jump.

As soon as I hit the ledge I pushed off the building towards the one across the street. It hit me as I was flying through the air that I had to be insane. I was diving from a rooftop, running blind, and nearly a thousand feet in the air. One false move and I was done for. It also occurred to me that I did a lot of thinking in midair for some reason and that if I didn't want to die I should probably keep my mind on where the hell I was headed.

But in hindsight it probably wouldn't have mattered in this case. As I was falling down across the street, I noticed the building across from me was the new glass type. Without my pistol to blast out the window I couldn't jump in. My only other option was to use my wakizashi and hope that it punctures the glass.

I put the sword in front of me, with both hands on the hilt, and braced for impact. I collided with the building, and thankfully the force was great enough for the sword to puncture the glass, but it did not shatter like I thought it would have. Instead the sword lodged itself in the glass, and I nearly lost my grip on the sword.

Once the shock of the collision faded, I looked around for any possible ledges to grab onto, but the wall was flat, all glass. I tried to move the sword in and out, attempting to make the glass open up so I could break my way in. Also no luck. Then I heard a dreaded sound of a helicopter. I looked down the road, and sure enough, it was barreling towards me.

"I have to get out of here before that helicopter reaches me, or I am a goner," I said to myself.

The dome drew ever closer. I zipped up my hoodie, and took one last look at the direction of the camp. I could just barely make out the glow of lights in the sky. Looking off to the left, I could see the trashlands, aptly named for being the dumping site for the city. It was hard to believe that this very ship came out of there. After diverting my eyes from that eyesore, I once again found myself staring at the dome.

My gut was wrenching terribly. Just the thought of going back there was making me ill. But if this information we retrieve could give us the upper hand, I had to try. There was no sense hiding; sooner or later they would be after us.

Then the moment finally arrived. We reached the dome. Alongside the boat, there was a massive gate, one of the many disposal gates. Michael came up from the cabin, followed by the rest of the group. He walked over to a small panel on the guardrail adjacent to the dome, and pressed a button. The rail lowered, and a platform extended over towards the gate. Michael took the initiative and walked across to the gate.

"Everyone ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Jonathan replied for everyone.

We walked across the platform in single file. Michael took one last look at us, as if to silently acknowledge that there was no going back now. He then touched his forehead for a moment, and the ship began to retract its platform and sail away to its preprogrammed destination.

Michael then began to study the gate. He looked up and down and all over.

"Something wrong?" Sienna asked.

"Well this is odd… I thought there was an access panel here." Michael said quizzically.

"You mean you're not sure we can even get inside? We did all that planning and preparation and we can't even get in the door?" Jonathan snidely replied.

"I was just through here last week, the panel should be right… here!" Tobias said, slapping a panel on the wall.

"If that's true, then let's see what's behind that panel," Jonathan suggested.

Tobias backed away from the metal panel on the wall, and let Jonathan approach. Jonathan then placed his hand on the panel, and it began to glow white hot. Seconds later, a hole appeared in the panel, revealing an access panel.

After Jonathan finished with creating the hole, Michael walked up to it and looked inside.

"Jon, you idiot! You melted the access panel! I can't do anything with it now!"

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," I said exasperated.

"Fine, I'll just melt the entire bloody gate down, how's that sound?" Jonathan said agitated.

"No! No, don't do that. Not unless you want the entire city after us." Tobias cautioned.

"So what the hell are we going to do now?" Michael asked, eying Sienna and myself.

"Don't look at us; you guys were the one that planned this operation, you think of something!" I said defensively. I wasn't about to be blamed for their fuck up.

"Why can't Michael just use the access panel's wires?" Anna suddenly suggested.

Jonathan, Tobias, and Michael then looked at each-other with such a priceless dumbfounded look that I'll never forget it.

"You… you think you could do that?" Tobias asked Michael.

"I guess so… I mean, I've never tried it, but in theory…"

Jonathan reached in through the hole and carefully pulled out the remains of the access panel. He flipped it over and disconnected a cable from the back of the unit.

"Looks like a typical etherwire cable, you have a connector for this don't you?"

Michael nodded and reached under his shirt behind his back. He pressed something, and a panel opened. Jonathan took the cable and attached it to him.

"Ugh, that's disturbing on so many levels," I said, cringing.

We all stood there for a few moments as Michael worked his magic. He seemed to be concentrating rather deeply about what he was doing.

"What the hell? Tobias, I thought you said this area was going to be empty!" Michael said unexpectedly.

"I did! Is there someone inside?"

"There are two maintenance guys inside according to access logs. I'm trying to find them on surveillance."

I looked over at Jonathan. Sienna put her hand on Anna's shoulder and held her close.

"They're three floors above. We need to get in now or we're going to miss our window." Michael said.

"We're waiting on you!" I reminded him.

As if to shut me up, the gate lurched into action. While the entrance slowly widened, I took a peek inside. Inside was a dank dark hallway, and it smelled of fuel and trash. Certainly fitting of a disposal gate.

We waited for Michael to detach himself from the wall, and we stepped inside. He pressed a few buttons on the gate's access panel, and the gate slowly closed behind us.

"I'm never going to get the smell out of my clothes," Sienna complained, shaking her blouse and holding her nose.

I didn't notice from the outside, but there was the sound of machinery off in the distance. Although it was nearly pitch black now, I could see some lights at the end of the hallway. Tobias took the lead and we slowly followed. As we drew closer to the lights, I noticed that the area ahead seemed to be a sortation center for the trash.

"Someone… no… many people… are coming here!" Anna suddenly yelled.

We turned around to look at Anna, who had one hand in Sienna's, while the other was holding her forehead.

"The men are looking for us, I think… they're confused but determined…"

"We need to hide then, and fast," Tobias warned.

Jonathan suddenly ran ahead and pressed his hands against a wall.

"Jon, what are you doing?" Michael asked.

"There's a vent here. I'm going to open up the wall so we can hide inside, and seal the wall back up behind us."

"That… that will work," Tobias accepted, caught off-guard by the idea. "Here I thought we'd have to run like hell."

Jonathan concentrated on making an alcove in the wall for us to hide in. Anna continued to monitor the mysterious men. Michael tried to jack into the area's security system to look them up. Tobias stood behind Jonathan, apparently amazed at his handiwork. Sienna knelt down next to Anna and was talking with her about the men. I felt left out, and just stood around looking like a dork.

"I've found them on the security cameras. We don't have much time, Jon."

Jonathan simply nodded, not breaking his concentration on the wall. I walked over and stood beside Tobias, watching Jonathan form the inner room behind the wall. At this point, he climbed inside the newly formed hole, and created the small alcove where we would be waiting.

"Jon… you need to hurry," Sienna said. "Anna said that the men seem to have noticed our presence here."

"Alright, it's done, but it's going to be really cramped. Everyone inside!"

Jonathan ushered all of us inside, with him being the last to go in, to seal off the entrance. Slowly the small alcove grew darker and darker. We all kept readjusting, trying to find a comfortable position inside. Anna was the only one lucky enough to have enough space to sit down, while the rest of us were forced to stand or lean on whoever was closest.

Not a moment too soon, Jonathan sealed off the entrance, and we heard the sound of footsteps.

"Sir, we're picking up some strong heat readings down this corridor."

"Trace it to the source, and don't you dare lose them!"

"Yes sir!"

The footsteps grew louder, and it was now evident that there were a significant number of soldiers in the hallway. In the pitch black of the alcove I couldn't see the others' faces, but I had a feeling they were just as uneasy as I was.

"What the hell?" One of the voices outside exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Sergeant?" Another replied.

"The heat readings just stop here. There's no trace of where they went."

"Damn it! We're not going to lose them. I want a full search of the area conducted. Leave nothing unchecked. I don't care if it takes us all night, you hear? You know how concerned the General has been about the break-ins recently."

"Y-yes sir! You heard the man, split up and tear this place apart!"

The sound of footsteps scattered, and we all let out a small sigh of relief.

"Everyone just keep quiet, we're not in the clear yet," Michael said softly.

We kept still and silent for what seemed like an eternity. I do know it was at least a couple hours. My knees were on fire, and it was becoming incredibly stuffy inside. Michael kept us informed on how their ridiculous search was going, and finally gave Jonathan the signal to break us out of this prison.

Once the hole was large enough, we practically spilled out of it. We all immediately crashed to the ground, except for Michael who chuckled at our misfortune.

"Ha ha very funny, Michael," Sienna said snidely.

"What? It's not often I get to flaunt my metal knees!" He said laughing.

After we composed ourselves and were able to stand again, Tobias led us down the corridor and out of the sortation center. It was well into night time now, so the streets were clear of people. The city was much like I had remembered it from years ago. Although this was the industrial district, which surrounded the outer edges of the city, there were a few restaurants sprinkled around, as well as a hospital. The streets were spotless, with bleached white concrete. Cars were rare in City Eternal. Most people either employed the use of the public transit systems or rode around on motor scooters, and because of this most streets featured large walkways.

The buildings were new construction as well. It was easy to tell when a building was new at a glance. The new buildings all used new metal and glass construction, giving them a clean, open look. Older buildings, such as the hospital, used the bleached concrete like that of the streets, which was much cheaper and more plentiful to produce at the time.

Although there were a lot of factories and plants in the industrial district, it was nearly indistinguishable from the inner city skyscrapers. The government focused heavily on the look and feel of the city. They passed numerous laws governing the design and construction of various districts, to ensure that regardless of their purpose, they would all have a unified theme, of City Eternal.

I had to admit, being back inside the dome, and seeing the clean city streets, gave me a feeling of being home. The nostalgia quickly waned though. Putting my hands in the hoodie's pocket, I continued to follow Tobias.

We managed to make it the requisite five or six blocks without being noticed, before Tobias brought us to the old underground entrance. Jonathan stepped up to the rusty, reinforced steel door, and melted away the locks. Michael then shoved the door open, exposing us to a dark stairwell. There wasn't a single light in the stairwell, and I couldn't see the bottom.

Tobias reached into his pocket and retrieved a flashlight.

"Ready for some urban-style spelunking?" he asked.

"As long as it doesn't smell," Sienna replied staunchly.

"Can't make any promises," Tobias said with a grin.

With Tobias once again leading the group, we traveled down the stairwell. Jonathan brought up the rear, stopping to seal the door up again after we were all inside. Once the door was closed, we stepped down the stairwell a few floors. The stairs didn't loop around like typical stairwells did; they simply went down in one line. After a short while the walls ended, leaving only railings and the stairs themselves. For a moment I thought I could see some spots of light in the distance, but I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. Certainly this underground area couldn't be that vast.

Tobias then stopped us on the stairwell and briefly shut off the flashlight.

"Let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you'll see why I mentioned spelunking," he instructed us.

Michael, who obviously didn't need any time to adjust his mechanical eyes, was the first to comment. "It's… incredible. I had no idea this was all under the city."

After a minute of standing there, my eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and I could make out what Michael was referring to. The reason I couldn't see the stairwell is because it was so amazingly long. Traveling down for what I guessed was at least 50 or 60 floors, the stairwell was dropping us right into the center of a massive underground city.

"Welcome to the old City Eternal," Tobias said.

It was an amazing sight. We were only seeing a glimpse of the top of this underground city, and already the scale was massive. The buildings seemed to go straight to the center of the Earth. I could spot the tram system we were heading for on a platform off to the side of the stairs below. It was only one of many such systems connecting the buildings, all suspended hundreds, if not thousands of feet above the ground.

"There's not much we know about this old city. What we do know is this old city was scrapped in favor of the new one built above. We're not sure why the government chose to rebuild directly on top of these remains of the old city, but we believe it might have something to do with the lack of resources. Rebuilding on top of the old city saved a great deal of work creating a new dome, and there was already a reliable water supply.

We think that this is where the first refugees hid. However, it became far too dangerous to live down here. Buildings are in disrepair, and are constantly falling apart. Food is scarce, meaning they were forced to travel to the surface city regularly. The last real activity down here was when the refugees were forced out by the government after they caught on. Many thousands were left outside to fend for themselves, leaving us with the refugee camp as you know it today. An interesting factoid: our impressive power system was stolen from this very city. The government came down one day to retrieve it, and it was no longer there. The bastards went ballistic once they figured that out." Tobias explained.

As we continued to walk down the stairs, I couldn't help but look around. Above was a sky of metal, much unlike the holographic sky projection the surface city used. Immense beams and poles stretched from the ground and the sides to suspend the new city above the old. I couldn't imagine the engineering required to hold such incredible weight spread over such a large area.

Although the city was mostly dead, there were a few areas that still had light, areas that seemed to be relics of the construction of the new city. I really hadn't imagined things. The place was cold and damp, and with the sight of steel everywhere, it certainly felt like a cave. But those lights calmed my nerves, reminding me that regardless how lifeless this old city may seem, there was still a connection to the "real world".

Finally, after scaling down the stairs for what seemed like an eternity, we reached the platform for the tram system. The tram sat upon a large single rail, and featured two open-air cars. We each grabbed a seat as Jonathan and Michael went to work on trying to get the ancient thing running.

"The rail system should have power according to the reports Tobias gave us. It's just a matter of getting this thing up and moving." Jonathan told Michael.

Michael fussed around with the control panel for a few moments, obviously confused and frustrated. Then suddenly the tram lurched to life… for a second, and then went silent again.

"The blasted lift engine won't come start!" Michael yelled to Jonathan who had stepped off the tram and was looking under the front car.

"This engine is rated for 12 amps, what are the rails supplying?" Jonathan asked.

"8 amps, just like all the power systems up on the surface." Michael replied.

"Figures. It'll run on that, but it's going to take more than 8 to get it started."

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" I asked snidely.

"Shut up and sit down Yukari, last thing we need is some of your lip." Jon replied annoyed. I laughed.

After doing some strange electrical rigging with capacitors or something that I didn't really understand, Michael was ready to give it another try. Jon jumped back onboard the first tram car.

"That should do it, charge the capacitors and try it now."

Michael pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and the tram car lurched again, but this time remained floating just slightly over the rail.

"Alright, we're up! Time to get moving. Next stop, the CARMEL datacenter!"

The tram jumped a couple times, obviously stiff from decades of disrepair. But to the credit of her original engineer, the thing did move smoothly once it was up to speed.

"It'll take us about 10 minutes to reach the platform where the datacenter is. Just sit back and enjoy the view." Michael informed us, like a true tour guide.

I was more than happy to take the time to give my legs a break. Anna looked to be enjoying herself, as she kneeled on the bench in the back and looked down at the expanse below us. Her hair was whipping strongly around her head and she had to constantly push it out of her eyes and mouth.

Sienna was a bit smarter about it, though, and was allowing her hair to flutter behind her in the breeze. She closed her eyes and seemed to just try and find some peace in the rather hectic day so far. I only wished I was able to relax as she was.

For whatever reason, Jon and Michael were bickering over something pointless about the tram, while Tobias was looking over his notepad. I never really paid attention to it before, but I seemed to remember Tobias checking his notepad regularly. The leather-bound notebook had seen better days, as it was faded and falling apart in places. It didn't seem to bother him however, as he continued to write in it.

As I wondered about what Tobias could be writing, he looked up and closed the notebook.

"Michael, we're almost there, try slowing the tram down gradually so we don't make too much noise. I don't want to trip any alarms when we arrive."

Michael nodded, seemingly happy to finally break away from Jon's endless debating. He walked up the control panel, and pressed a couple buttons.

"Uhm, are we even slowing down? You don't have to be that gradual." Tobias remarked.

"Jon!" Michael yelled abruptly.

"What?!" he replied.

"We don't have any brakes!"

Over the course of the following days, Jonathan and I acquainted ourselves with our new home. Sienna took me shopping, of course, and I made amends as best I could with Jonathan. More importantly, however, we were educated on the new RDF espionage mission that we would be partaking in. There was a lot to learn, and unfortunately time was running out.

On the following Sunday afternoon, we arrived at headquarters to go over the mission plan one last time. Tobias was there, this time. He had been conducting his own espionage on City Eternal prior to the mission. Tobias was unique on our team, in that he was the only one without an ability. However, this did not limit his usefulness. Tobias was one of only a few members of the RDF that had retained possession of an active citizen ID card. As far as City Eternal knew, Tobias was an ordinary man living out an ordinary life as a baker. His identity would be key to the team getting inside, without being noticed.

"Alright, so let's go over this one more time," Michael said, pulling up a presentation on the mission plan.

Tobias walked over to the screen and pointed at the RDF's fourth defense line, the top of the camp.

"This is where we will depart. We have the 'Aeris Mk II' prepared to take us to the dome. Once we arrive, the ship will navigate to a preselected hiding spot in the trashlands." Tobias instructed.

"After we arrive, we will break in through this disposal system. According to Tobias's latest report this disposal system should be inactive for maintenance. Since we will be arriving during the night on a Sunday, the area should be rather bare." Michael continued.

"Unfortunately, breaking into the dome is probably the easiest part of the plan. From there, we will need to quickly locate the old tram system in the lower levels of the dome. If we're lucky, the system will have power, and we can ride it to the inner city district. If we're not, we'll have to walk along the line. In either case, we need to follow this tram line. I have discovered that, according to the schematics I was able to dig up, that this line should run directly past the maintenance shafts for the CARMEL (Computer Aided Residential/Metropolitan Electronic Library). The library system is where we'll be able to gather our information." Tobias explained.

"The CARMEL is more than the citizen information network, it is also used by the military for all of their records. Of course, getting to that information takes a bit more than a citizen ID card. Using the maintenance shaft, we should be able to access the system directly, which with my computer expertise, should allow us to obtain the information we need." Michael said.

At this point the General stepped up to the screen.

"And this is where we predict it will become the most difficult. Regardless of Michael's abilities, we're sure it will not take them long to discover that their system has been breached. You'll need to escape from there as quickly as possible. We can't plan for all the contingencies here, however I highly recommend you avoid taking the tram path back, unless it's powered up and operational. Tobias should be able to assist you all in making a quick escape." the General informed us.

"Once we make it out of the dome, Michael can wirelessly signal the ship to return. After that, we'll be in the clear." Tobias said.

"My only worry is, what if we are split up?" I asked.

"I've designated this location," Michael said, pointing at the map on the screen. "It should work to our advantage. It's a restaurant located on the outskirts of the inner city district. Lots of people who won't ask questions. If you get separated, try and find your way there."

"Now, remember each of your assignments on this mission. Anna, your ability will be vital. You need to keep your senses open so that you can warn the others if someone is coming. Stealth is the key." The General instructed.

"Yukari, you'll need to work closely with Anna. If necessary, you'll need to silence anyone who might notice us, before they have a chance to alert the military." Tobias said.

"Michael's job is rather obvious. You will be responsible for breaking into the various security systems that the city employs." The General said.

"Right, and I should be able to obtain a more detailed map of the area once we're inside." Michael added.

"Sienna, your job will be a support role. You and Anna should stay out of any conflicts that are going on. After all, if you are hurt, you can't help the others." Tobias pointed out.

"Jonathan, you're going to be my right hand man. If there's something blocking our path, I'm going to count on you to clear the way. You'll also be the weapons expert, although I hope it does not come to that." Michael said nervously.

"Finally, Tobias, being the most experienced member of the team, will be leading the way. You all will need to listen carefully to what he tells you to do. He knows his way around the city, and he's been an excellent spy of ours for many years. Don't get him killed." The General said with a smirk.

"Yes, please, don't," Tobias added. "I like being amongst the living."

"Beyond that, I believe we've covered the essentials. Working with Tobias and Michael this week we've tried to ensure there will be no surprises, but there is limited information available. Obviously this mission hopes to change that. You are to embark at 2100 hours tonight. I recommend you all head up to the 'Aeris' now, and prepare. We will be establishing full radio silence once you undock."

I nodded to the General, and looked at Michael. He grabbed a few papers from the table, and led us to the elevator. We were pretty silent up to this point, but Anna looked rather nervous.

"Anna, it's not too late to back out. We can handle this ourselves." I assured her.

"No, you guys need me with you, I can do it. I know you all want to protect me, but I don't want to be protected. I want to help."

"Even so," I explained. "There's no reason you can't stay here."

Anna shook her head and stood up tall. She was determined to go, although it did not calm my nerves. I still didn't think she belonged on this mission, but no matter how many times I brought it up, I was always shot down.

Finally we reached the top floor, and exited the elevator. Tobias led us down a couple halls until we reached a doorway to the outside. Once outside, I noticed we were still under some cover, of a large open-air hangar.

"Oh wow!" Jonathan said suddenly. "These are some serious ships! I didn't know we had this sort of fleet available."

"These are our prized possessions; the finest ships captured from the dome's military," Tobias explained. "We will be taking the smaller one down at the end."

Tobias pointed to a ship that resembled the one I had boarded the day I escaped the dome. However, I could tell it was thinner and had a larger mast.

"The Aeris Mk II is a Dasher-class recon boat. She's not armed, but she is the fastest ship in our fleet on sails. She's equipped with numerous sensor arrays and communications systems that make her an excellent stealth boat. She can run quietly, and she will keep us out of sight." Michael said.

"The boat you all arrived on was the Aeris Mk I. She's the same class, but she hasn't undergone any of the performance renovations like the Mk II has." Tobias added.

I wasn't too particularly interested in the details, but Jonathan seemed to be hanging on to every word, as was his nature.

"That explains the thinner profile of the Mk II then," Jonathan replied.

Tobias nodded.

After we finished gawking at the impressive display of firepower, Michael handed the papers he grabbed earlier to the facilities manager.

"Ah, so you're the special ops team. We're just finishing up the fueling procedure." The manager said. "I will need those with boat licenses to place their right hand here and speak your name into the microphone.

The manager gestured to a scanning device on the table, and the microphone.

"We use biometric and voice authorization on the Aeris Mk II. In order to access the navigation system or central computer it will need to be authorized by one of those methods."

Michael, Tobias, Jonathan (who had managed to get his license only the day before), and Anna stepped up to the scanner, and followed the manager's directions. Once they were all processed, he ushered us over to the Aeris.

Pressing his hand on the hull of the ship, the hatchway opened and a small stairway extended.

"Welcome aboard the Aeris!" The manager said, gesturing us inside.

Michael, being the tallest of the troupe, climbed onboard. He then offered his hand to Sienna, helping her on. I picked up Anna, and Michael took her and placed her on the stairs. Then I grabbed his hand and lifted myself onto the staircase myself. Tobias and Jonathan followed. I could tell Jonathan was rather upset about being the last onboard, and he kept urging us to move faster.

After we climbed the stairs, we found ourselves in a hallway that seemed to run from the front to the rear of the ship, with another staircase at the ends presumably leading to the deck. I was rather surprised at the size of the ship on the inside. Although it was narrow, it was quite long. There were 3 bunks, a small kitchen and dining area (which I would later be corrected on as being a "galley and mess"), and what I assumed was the navigation controls.

Michael shuffled his way past us to the front and lead us through the hallway to the stairs in the rear of the ship. He then climbed the stairs, and opened the hatch to the deck. Once we made it up the stairs and out onto the deck, I took a deep breath. I wasn't one for close quarters.

Jonathan gleefully pushed past us now that there was enough space to do so. He noticed the various controls at the rear.

"What are those controls for?" I asked Tobias, who was now standing next to me.

"Those are the manual navigation controls for the boat, should the navigation system lose power or the computer goes on the fritz. They're pretty difficult to use."

Unlike Jonathan, I didn't have my boat license yet. Jonathan was able to simply take the test, but I needed to take some classes first. Up until now I didn't really have a reason to do so, since Sienna and I were the only ones who didn't have a license. My mind began to change over the time I was on the deck. I could feel the wind that was ripping through the hangar, and it gave me a feeling of freedom I hadn't felt in a long time.

"How come this one doesn't have a TURING cannon? The Mk I did!" Jonathan asked, obviously distressed.

"Our TURING cannons are in short supply, and since this is a special ops stealth mission, the need for armament is almost nil." Michael told Jonathan plainly.

Jonathan was disappointed, but the disappointment was short lived. He continued to bug Michael and Tobias about the various changes on the boat. I was growing tired of hearing his overenthusiastic attitude, so I walked over to the controls.

"How do you open the sail?" I asked.

"Here, I'll do it for you," Tobias offered. "Navigation, deploy the headsail and mainsail."

Suddenly to my surprise, a computer male voice responded.

"Deploying headsail and mainsail in stationary alignment."

Not so suddenly but still throwing me off-guard, a pole slowly extended from the mast. It sat about three feet above my head and extended out over the side of the boat.

"I never get tired of watching those telescoping booms," Jonathan said.

While the boom finished extending, I saw two sails beginning to unfurl from the main mast. A cable extended out across the front edge of the deck, pulling out what I assumed was the headsail. At the same time the mainsail opened up, the bottom corner being pulled along a track in the boom. It was certainly a feat of engineering; I hadn't seen anything like it. In 30 seconds flat, I was now looking at two amazing, large sails.

"Headsail and mainsail deployed in stationary alignment," the computer said, acknowledging the completion.

"Oh, that's amazing! They didn't just duplicate the sail plan of the Mk I, they added a headsail to make it a sloop!" Jonathan said excitedly.

"This isn't the full deployment either. It can deploy a second jig, a gaff, and a gaff topsail if necessary. This is what makes her one of the fastest sailing ships we have." Tobias said. "There is a downside, however. In case you didn't notice, this ship is only meant for a crew of three. Since we're only making a short trip to the dome and back, we won't need to make use of the facilities. This is why we're taking the Aeris out today anyway, instead of one of our larger vessels."

Tobias, Michael and Jonathan continued to discuss the various nuances of the ship's design, as Sienna approached me.

"Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" She asked.

"Not really," I admitted.

"How about you, Anna? You've been awfully quiet." Sienna asked.

"They're using a bunch of nautical words, and are talking about the kind of ship this is, I think," She answered shyly.

"So you're about as much in the dark as we are."

She nodded.

As the boys continued to discuss their new toy, my mind drifted to the impending operation. It seemed as though everything was happening so fast. I could barely keep up, I felt like I was constantly being dragged along. I just felt that we were rushing things, and I worried that we might not be prepared for what was in store.

Over the next hour inside, Michael detailed how we'd be approaching the dome and what to do in an emergency. The maintenance crew finished refueling the Aeris, and it came time for us to depart. For the occasion, we re-emerged from below deck.

"Navigation, authorize Michael McCormick," he requested of the computer.

"Michael McCormick authorized for the navigation system."

"Navigation, align sails for departure and plot course for City Eternal."

"Initiating sail alignment, course plotted. Winds from the east-southeast at 12 knots. Weather, fair."

The boom began to rotate along the mast, swinging the mainsail out to catch the wind. The headsail seemed to retract somewhat, as the cable moved along a track on the front of the ship.

"Navigation, proceed with unmooring and departure procedures."

"Powering up lift system," the computer responded.

A humming sound began to emanate from the bottom of the ship. Suddenly, the ship lurched and rose off the ground. At the same time, the ship began to slowly crawl forward out of the hangar.

"Lift system stabilized, retracting landing gear. Communicating intention to depart to traffic control. Traffic control acknowledges and authorizes departure. Landing gear retracted and secured."

I took a deep breath and waved goodbye to the maintenance crew below as we emerged from the hangar. As we moved further away from the hangar towards the camp's exit, everything grew dark. The sky was pitch black, not a star, nor the moon was visible. Only the lights of the Aeris and the scattered spotlights inside the camp offered illumination.

Only minutes later we reached the edge of the camp, and moved out into the open. With the camp behind us, we were shrouded in darkness. The only things visible were the random stations of the first and second defense lines, and of course, the dome of City Eternal looming off in the distance.

I took another deep breath. There was no turning back now. I looked over and realized that I had accidentally been squeezing Anna's hand rather hard.

"Oh, sorry Anna," I apologized.

"It's okay, I'm nervous too," she replied.

I had forgotten that she could feel our emotions. She must have been terrified. Then again, I think we all were, in our own way. Tobias, oddly enough, was probably the least concerned, despite having no abilities whatsoever to protect him. He had the experience, and an established identity in the dome. I'm not sure how I felt about that, but I knew he was on our side, and that was good enough for now.

Michael announced over the intercom that they were going to shut down the lights and begin radio silence, as the dome drew ever closer. The others went back below deck, but I remained up top. As the ship's lights turned off, I leaned against the railing along the rear of the ship, and closed my eyes. I took the band out of my hair, letting it fly loose. The wind was cold that night, and it whipped right through me. But I remained there anyway, enjoying the peace and quiet before the storm.