THE BABYLONIAN

Chapter 5: Intruder

‘You look tired my friend.’

I looked back and saw that Zyan was standing on top of one of the jets. I wasn’t much surprised to see him, and he wasn’t surprised to see that I wasn’t fazed either. Setting down the welding machine, Zyan climbed down from the jet.

‘Well, it’s nice to see a familiar face', said I turning to look at a jet that was coming to land on the runway.

‘We rarely take off. There is always a risk of being spotted by the enemy and their drowns are way better than ours', said Zyan, looking at the jet.

‘So, where is it coming from?’

‘They are bringing a parcel from Nova, it’s a military base. Nova does most of the fighting. This is more like a safe refuge.’

‘Sounds like that is the place I should be in', I said as the jet touched the runway and went past us.

‘Oh! Don’t worry. You’ll get there… in time', said Zyan. ‘Come along, I’ll get you something to eat, and show you a place to stay.’

I didn’t ask Zyan about that night and he didn’t bother to say anything either. I could tell that Zyan wasn’t like the other characters in the game; I once had the feeling I had had when I first saw him.

He lead me into what looked like a tunnel that was divided into different compartments. There was a small area with long tables, that looked like where they ate food. There was no one else in the room except the both of us and a big man with a long moustache. Zyan asked the big man to bring me some food and I didn’t object. He brought a large bowl of something that looked like chicken stew. The man having placed it on the table before me, left along with Zyan. I was aware that I was in a stimulation, and knew I didn’t have to eat; I didn’t even feel hungry. Anyway, I look a spoonful and placed it in mouth. It was actually good and I took more. By the time I was done Zyan walked in with some of the others.

‘Hey Greenhorn', Zyan called out to me, and he came and introduced the others.

There were five others and their names were One, Two, Three, Four, Five, respectively. Huh, and I’m Zero. Four was the only female in the group. After they left, I asked.

‘Seriously, so I was meant to come here, huh', said I. ‘Are any of them a player like me.’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘So, how do I finish the game? Are you supposed to help me?’

‘Don’t fret it, yourself you’ll figure it out', said Zyan with a troubled look on his face.

Zyan lead me to into a room and saying that I could rest there, he left. I wanted to ask Zyan about the girl I had found, but decided not to, for now. I didn’t even know whether I needed rest, but I laid down on a couch and fell asleep soon. When I opened my eyes the light on the wall was still shining and it was not possible to tell what time of the day it was. I got out to find that it was already dusk.

I got out of the place and decided to take a walk outside. I saw that just outside Red’s place there was the large weapon they called the Verge, mounted onto one of the towers; and there were men working on it.

I noticed that there were a lot of huge tunnels both above and below that led deep into the sides. Most of the housing for the people were build on the side walls or inside the huge tunnels that were high above. Most of the military equipments and artillery were also on raised platforms. Down below were mostly the crops, and metal structures mounded with weapons. There were also parts of dismantled enemy ships that were being used to build other weapons and machines.

I went and sat on the wooden dock build near the lake. I sat staring into the lake as the moonlight began to reflect on the water. The moon was several times bigger than the moon I was used to and it shone brightly. As I sat there staring at the water I saw that the water began to turn a pale florescent blue.

‘There are bioluminescent bacteria in the lake’, said a voice from behind.

I had heard Will walking towards me. I turned and said: ‘I thought they were only found in the sea.’

‘They say that the radiation released during the war had caused mutations in most of the organisms.’

‘When was the war?’

‘I’m not sure. No one is. Must have been hundreds of years ago.’

‘How long has these people been living here?’

‘Almost a hundred years I think’, said the boy, sitting near me.

‘I suppose you don’t know much about Opium.’

‘They have been talking people hostages for a long time. No one knows what They do with them. But no one ever makes it out.’

'Why are all the housing build on the walls?', I asked.

'If it rains heavily, the water from the mountains above flows directly into this place and can flood it within an hour.'

I sat silent for some time staring into the glowing water. I couldn’t drive out the feeling that someone was watching me from down there; recording all my responses, even my feelings, and making calculations to predict what I would do next. I felt this urge growing in me that was almost irresistible: I wanted to prove that my actions could not be summed up as the result of some calculations, I wanted to prove that I was more than the sum of my responses; yet, contradictingly, I knew I was wrong. Still staring into the water, I asked the boy: ‘is this what you said you wanted to show me.’

‘No, there’s something else’, said the boy eerily. ‘Come, I’ll take you there.’

Right then I saw a light flash above one of the holes above; and there was a buzzing noise. I heard someone on one of the towers shout:

‘Intruder.’

***********

A short was fired from above that blew up one of the towers near Red’s place. It sounded the alarm and people rushed out, heading towards the artillery rooms and jets. I ran towards a tower near me that had a large gun mounded on it. By the time I climbed up the tower, I noticed that the drone had come down and was beginning to sweep the place. The drone was larger than any of the dismantled ships I had seen there. People were already firing from below but their shots had very little effect on the drone.

I turned the gun towards the drone and fired. The drone moved a little off its course, but otherwise it seemed unaffected. The drone having locked onto one of the squadrons, where there were more than a dozen jets and artillery, fired: blowing up a vast majority of the jets. And it kept firing till the whole place was destroyed. I, along with the others, kept firing at the drone, and it seemed to sustain damage. The drone, having taken out a couple of the towers near by, turned towards me.

By that time a few jets had taken to the air, and they drew the fire. After a few more minutes of engagement we were able to take the drone down. The done, having sustained too much damage on its thrusters, crashed down into the ground, and came towards my tower drifting through the ground.

I was almost knocked out by the impact, but I managed to hold on. The drone, although grounded, was still active and it kept firing shots into the lake. I turned the gun towards the front part of the drone, where I believed the major systems were concentrated; and fired.

There was an explosion and the heat almost burned my hands. I quickly climbed down from the tower, through the other side, and moved away from the drone which had stopped firing. The others rushed towards it to make sure that it was really down.