Zero

CHAPTER NINE

Giuseppe smashed the opening escape capsule button while coughing and holding his right side.The smoke crowding inside the booth quickly changed places quith the purple scum wraping that old useless thing; the kid ended up covered by the viscous material and had to soften his landing, he didn’t pay much attention to that because he was so dizzy that felt like his head was on the ground. The zero stumbled when he came out of the shuttle, falling face down hitting himself with several objects that were spread on the surface. He didn’t try to move again, he preferred to wait a couple of minutes in that position until being able to recogninze every part of his body. After a while he opened his eyes, everything was incredibly dark, the only lights that were there were the ones of the capsule and a soft sunshine overshadowed by the clouds, the buildings of Middle and platforms of Base, that were leaking laboriously through that shattered  the structure that covered Giuseppe; everything was in ruins, finding a place on the floor that wasn’t covered by debris was impossible, above him an ustable striated building that must have been made of concrete or  some kind of rock; some rusty rods protruting because of the weight they were supporting, the illuminated areas announced with their dark greenish colors that the abandonment had corroded them, the broken glass lost its transparency centuries ago, that they couldn’t be more dirty. Despite of everything, the structure was something beautiful for Giuseppe, for the first time in his life, he witnessed the constructions of the First Era, those that John didn’t bother to describe, unconscious of the borders that would begin to rise up to the sky with the arrival of Yernidash.


The boy looked up to watch that nothing came through the hole he had made on ceiling -or wall- it was difficult to distinguish what used to be that part when the building beautifully rose; however the image was still moving, trying to focus was becoming difficult, Giuseppe touched his head while trying to sit down. How long am I going to be dizzy? He regretted, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that he wasn’t the one that was seeing double; it was the earth that trembled tirelessly, trying to compact itself more and more. The eternal earthquakes-  remembered Giuseppe as he tried to stand up to see if it was as difficult to move as his book described it. The Zero walked a little bit more and fell on his backside again, producing a slight echo among the desolate ruins.  Giuseppe wasn’t that worried about the instability of the ground, but for all the things that were in it, hidden in the dark, waiting for someone to get hooked on the foot when dared to prowled the area, so the kid ended up using his hands as support to return inside the cabin. When he did it, he felt chills running down his spine and skin but somehow the outside was disturbing, the feeling wasn’t sudden, it was just slowly tightening on the skin causing a state of insecurity. On the other hand, the capsule reminded him more to the usual and when he entered so suddenly in his comfort zone, he couldn’t help noticing a dange sensation that tensed the outside environment.

Okay, now the provisions, -thought the boy as he remembered the steps his mother had made him memorize in the countless simulations they performed. The boy put his hand on a panel and after scanning, it showed a green light and displayed a menu with the names of each member of the family and one that said "guest"; Giuseppe selected them all and pressed the “enter” option, the device received the order and opened a large drawer that contained five belts with the name of their owner, to the sides of each belt hung a couple of cartridges with four charging spheres on each side, each one of them had been previously personalized by their owner, except for the "guest", that one had basic things that Sermon had prepared in case there was someone else involved in an incident. The boy took the belts and fastened them all around his waist. Now I have to call grandpa- he thought.  He operated the panel again, but this time the answer wasn’t pleasing: "The station antenna was removed, please reconnect it" -said the machine-. Giuseppe cursed loudly and leaned out of the door to look at the dark disastrous panorama that surrounded him. I will never find the antenna in this place -he thought, but without further thinking, he took his synchronizer to call his mother, she would tell him what to do; nevertheless, the mental order wasn’t sent, when the boy saw his hand not only he noticed that the device was gone, but also he had a cut; it wasn’t that serious since the synchronizer should have taken the worst part. Giuseppe looked down to search on the floor, and among the purple foam that was disintegrating, there it was, a golden bracelet split in half at one end and joined by ramshackle cables in the other. –Fucking usless technology-  said the kid while rubbing his eyes with his index and thumb right hand fingers.

Suddenly, a blue-white light leaked the darkness illuminating the floor in front of the capsule, it quickly moved to the vehicle in which Giuseppe was, he was already terrified hiding behind one of the seats. It clearly wasn’t a SSBM, because they always use green-whitish tones, but the stories told at school about what lived in Bottom were worthy of fear.

- Gipi, are you there?- asked the sweet voice of his mother while she entered into the cabin-. The kid jumped out of his hiding place and ran towards his mother.

-Don’t you ever leave me alone again- begged the kid in what sounded like a reproach.

-It’s ok, don’t worry, this is about to finish- she added sweetly as she caressed her son- Did you grab the provisions and called grandpa?

-I tried, but I have no signal.

-Don’t worry, go with your brother to the shuttle, I’ll find the remote pager –ordered his mother-. Giuseppe smiled when he heard Noah was there with them so he quickly ran out of the capsule to see his brother.

-What a day!- said Giuseppe as soon as he got in the vehicle.

- You tell me! If you think you had a bad time in that capsule it’s because you haven’t seen mom driving in a rush, to tap it all the gravitational spheres shut down when we were near Base, and this thing has no belts!

-I believe you, mom is full of surprises, back at home she took out a lot of weird devices from a hidden place on the dance hall.

-I know, when she saved me from my frien... from Zig and the other ones –he said as his enthusiasm died from remembering the betrayal.

- What happened?- asked his brother while he approached.

-My classmates turned me to the See, and then they attacked me, I think Zig wanted to use his hierarchy against me, if mom hadn’t arrived he would have killed me.

-Don’t say such things, you have always said good things about your friends, maybe they just were really scared.

-He threw me a bone to my chest, he wanted to kill me and the others didn’t even intervene –said with watering eyes and broken voice. Giuseppe hugged him. The chamaleon broke down in bitter tears that was holding a while ago.

-Easy bro! Who cares about those stupid friends, you have me and I’m never gonna let you down, Zig is a jerk, he envies you and that’s the reason why he’s like that, but he’ll be alone forever and you won’t- said trying to comfort without knowing if he was doing it right, his lack of social contact out of his family made him hopeless in situations like that. Noah slightly laughed that ended his tears.

- You don’t even know who  Zig is, do you?

- No, but judging by what you say he must be a jerk, he’ll get what he dererves when this is fixed- added Giuseppe since it was a commun joke they had when his brother had issues with someone at school.

Noah smiled, separated from Giuseppe’s chest -that was now all wet- and thanked him, his brother returned the gesture, but before some of them started to talk, Naya got into the shuttle so abruptly that they shook, and without giving any explanations she started the vehicle.
-What is going on? – shouted Noah while he was trying to find something inside the suttle to hang on.

- The SSBMs that were following us are about to arrive- said the woman.

-What about grandpa?- asked Giuseppe.

-I couldn’t find him, but I brought the remote pager, it’ll take a few hours to triangulate his location.

The boy nodded. On the other han, Noah was staring at the rearguard. They had left the building far behind, providing the family with a wider view of Bottom. They could se mong the darkness, a building cementery that joined their carcasses on the surface of an unstable earth, sunk in the gloom, abandoned. Suddenly, four green lights materialized as approached, their presence was brief, they went to the building that had been used as a landing strip, getting in through the entrance that the escape capsule had opened by force. Regardless of the crackling wind in the pointy ears of the family, the silence was absolute, dramatic, almost conscious of the coming show. Last step: move the operator panel to the synchronizer and when it’s far enough, activate self-destruction- the siblings thought altogether waiting for the explosion, which detonated immediately.

Naya stopped the engine and tilted the vehicle to contemplate the ominous abrasive force that disintegrated remains of the First Age. Sermon hadn’t spared a single vecan when installing the explosives, they were millionaires after all, but it was an exaggeration, if they had gone gone with their uncle in Base instead of going to Bottom with grandpa, this explosion would have been an atrocity, it could even have destroyed the platform. The three of them contemplated the post-apocalyptic scene a little more, since  the detonation warmly illuminated the boundaries of Bottom, shaping things that had remained in the shadows for longer than the very  See regime, and yet it didn’t seem to be other being contemplating that show. After a few minutes the light turned  again into a myth, leaving only a memory in the eyes of the limited audience.
-Now what?- asked the older brother to break the silence.

-I’ll take you to your grandpa’s and then I’ll go get your father- said Naya firmly.

-You alone? No way, it’s too dangerous- refuted Noah.

-Yeah well, you’re not going with me, you’re going to stay at grandpa’s and he’s going to go with me to get your father back.

-How is it possible that leaving us in Bottom is safer than going with you?- said Noah.

-Grandpa’s house can move and it’s equipated to defend you from any hazard, if you stay inside nothing is gonna happen to you- said Naya a little bit loud.

Noah leaned back on the platform and crossed his arms outraged as he looked at his mother; the woman raised her right wrist, and with her mind unfolded a hologram from her synchronizer. "Beginning search" -said the 3D image, the blonde held on a while more with the arm up, but the machine wasn’t rushed at all, reason why it chose to transfer the search towards the console of the shuttle. Maybe this processor is more powerful -she thought correctly because within seconds of being transferred to the vehicle, the result appeared: "Latest records found, triangulating possible Pinrok Morrus migration routes, 604 results, waiting time for reduce options ... 32 hours ".

-A whole day? Dad can’t wait that much!- claimed the chamaleon.

-I think someone’s gonna have to take us with her- added Giuseppe with a successful smile.

-No, no, no! You can’t go with us- said Noah before his mother could say something- this is too much for you.

-Hey! your talent isn’t that helpful for fighting!- complained the zero.
-But if I get caught they will prosecute us all for contepmt!

He was right, Giuseppe was speechless, but he was still thinking about an answer.

-Neither of you is coming with me- interrupted Naya.

-So, where are we staying? Here in Bottom so that an animal can eat us?- Naya pursed her limps since she had no answer, her youngest son had left her with no arguments.

-Exactly! Where are you planning to leave me if I decide you come with me? – Giuseppe added, leaving Noah in check-mate with his own argument. The three of them kept silent, while the mother and the younger brother tried to think of an option, but the older remembered them about a second major problem: -If we don’t decide soon dad will be prosecuted and all this will have been worthless!- claimed so angry that his Sermon Pinrok genetics highlighted. Naya groaned and without celebrating her son’s victory, she ordered the shuttle to restart the engine with a more than 45 degrees inclination in order to begin an ascent bigger than any other zaykan could imagine.