Parador (Juggernaut #2)

Four

Tila set a brisk pace, with Ellie, and even Malachi, hurrying to keep up. The city was busy now, full of people and vehicles travelling to their destinations with single-minded purpose. Tila saw them all as obstacles. She looked up at the aircraft zipping between buildings and wished they had a faster way to move around the city. Everyone here was so slow.

The river of people on each sidewalk had to be navigated with care, even as she wanted to rush through them and push them aside so she could reach her destination. Between every block, they had to negotiate a street filled with traffic. They had to obey unknown rules and obscure signs and traffic signals. The Juggernaut might be dangerous but at least you didn't risk getting hit by a vehicle every fifty metres. She looked up at the aircraft again. Flying would surely be better than this.

'How much farther?' she called over her shoulder, but heard nothing. She stopped and turned around. Malachi and Ellie had vanished. No, there they were, wading through the crowd a little farther back.

'Come on!'

'Nearly there,' said Malachi when he caught up with Tila. He held Ellie's hand so they wouldn't be separated in the crowd.

'Where is everyone going?' Ellie asked, bewildered by the crowds and the rush.

'To work. They all have jobs,' said Malachi.

'Tell her on the way,' said Tila, and pushed forward again, leaving Malachi and Ellie to follow.

'But why are they all walking?' said Ellie, as she trotted to keep up. 'I thought everyone here was rich. Don't they all have drivers?'

'Yeah, but most of them take public transport to get in and around the city. It's more efficient, but they still have to do some walking. 'Hey!' Malachi exclaimed as someone pushed past him.

'Everyone going somewhere at the same time is efficient?' said Ellie.

'And I thought Tila was impatient,' Malachi muttered at the vanishing suit.

'She is, but she's stopped,' said Ellie, and pointed across the next street.

They waited in a crowd of grey and black suits on the edge of the street until the traffic stopped. Then, as one, the crowd of pedestrians surged forward. Malachi and Ellie skipped ahead of the crowd before they were swallowed by the mass of bodies and reached the other side first.

Tila stood on a corner staircase, flanked by long terraced water features of polished black glass. The water fed lush displays of shrubbery and flowers, and together the plants and water funnelled pedestrians toward one of the three sets of doors into the building. Over all of this towered a hexagonal skyscraper clad in obsidian.

In a city of buildings which were mostly glass and steel and white stone this one stood proud.

'Whoa,' said Malachi, awed by the sight.

Ellie looked up, and up, and leaned backward before she could make out the top. She suddenly grabbed Malachi's arm with a shriek.

'It's falling!'

Malachi unlatched her fingers one by one. 'No, it's not. It's only the motion of the clouds that makes it look like that.'

Ellie squinted at the building, tracking the moving clouds with her eyes and comparing them to the tops of other buildings nearby. When she was satisfied that the city was not about to collapse around her, she lowered her eyes. Tila was gone.

'Where did she go?' said Ellie.

'Inside.' Malachi looked concerned.

'Oh, good.'