Chapter 6
24 0 0
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Caleb stirred in his bed, his mind waking up upon realizing that he heard that damn box humming again. But as he was just about to get up and put it in a desk or something to block out the noise, he realized he had already done it...so why was it suddenly so clear?

His tiredness was replaced by concern, he definitely remembered putting the box in the workshop, locked away in a small storage container. He got up and eyes glued on the dark figure standing in his room. A woman in a pitch black dress, skin completely gray almost like metal and her face was mostly shrouded by the bright orange light, beaming out of her eyes. She stared at him unblinking, unmoving.

‘Ti evAh Uoy oD erewH?’ Her voice was distorted, speaking like a broken radio. But there was malice in there, toxic, burning malice.

Caleb almost flew out of his bed, his heart racing a million miles an hour, as he looked around his empty room. He realized he was just dreaming, the woman was just in his brain...

A product of the stress no doubt....ya stress, that had to be it...

Well there was no way for him to fall asleep now, he was awake so might as well get used to it.

He got up and decided on some fresh air. He climbed on the roof, the cold night air felt almost soothing on his sleep deprived face.

On the deck there, looking out over the dark landscape was Kel, holding something in her hand. He walked up to her, unsure whenever he was supposed to say something.

‘Rough night huh?’ she asked him.

‘You could say that...you to?’

‘I rarely ever sleep.’

A silence followed, Caleb looking up on the sky in wonder.

‘Its a nice night I suppose.’

‘Its gorgeous..’

‘Gorgeous? Its just stars mate.’ Kel sounded so dismissive yet surprised at his statement.

‘Its the first time I have ever seen them. The capital is always so covered in thick clouds of smoke so that’s all we ever get.’

‘Oh.... well I guess this is better in a way.’ Neither said anything but just observed them, floating in the dark sky like little diamonds.

He turned and saw what she was holding. The photograph of her and Gregor. He was certainly older, having gray hair on his head but yet he was smiling in that photo. Seeming so alive..

‘What was he like? The engineer before me.’

‘Gregor was....something else. He was breathing technology. He could easily look at any device, literary any, and instantly know how it works, how to make it sing as he put it.

He was constantly coming up with this new inventions and ways to upgrade the ship and shit... A fucking genius..’

‘Sounds like one hell of a guy..’

‘Ya...its a fucking huge pair of shoes you gotta fill now. This ship, the Dreaded lady, is one of a kind. It requires a lot of work to keep her flying but when she does, its like there’s no stopping it you know..’

‘I’ll do my best to not disappoint.’

‘Well you have done fucking great so far...you got it flying again..’

Caleb had been with them just long enough to know how rare a compliment from Kel was, he gladly took it as they kept watching over the desert in silence, enjoying the rare few moments of peace they had gotten in days.

*

‘You can’t be serious!!’

The head secretary Megan Hagle was beyond displeased at this point.

The general, who was supposed to deliver the news, was conveniently gone on work related business...coward.

‘We are! Everyone is busy so its up to you tell her the bad news.’

‘What about the head of the other departments?’

‘The minister of war is, as you know, busy overseeing project weapon mass X.

The head of science is out building some new facility under the orders of the Empress.

The head of urban development is on a conference call, and the head of information and communication isn’t really allowed to leave for....well reasons you already know.’

‘Is there really no one else? Any other general?’

‘No one that’s conveniently out on some military campaign, putting down rebellions or expanding our territory.’

‘Well great! Let me get melted in their place!!’ she sighted heavily. This was why she regretted accepting the job of head secretary. Not even the massively fat paycheck made it worth dealing with “her”.

She turned to the large set of doors behind her desk. A several meters thick bronze colored door with the empire insignia carved on it. She placed her hand on the small scanner attached to it and with a loud metal grinding noise it slowly opened, revealing the dark and cold corridor leading straight to the heart of the Dymarip.

She walked inside, staying as close to the middle as possible as smoke slowly rose from the bars on the floors. Pipes went along the roof and large wires, thicker than her arms, hung along the walls. She approached the room at the far end, the circular steel door opened revealing...well “it”.

She stood before the walls of cogs, lines and that creepy light, staring at her like the eye of the chamber wall. The eye of the empress as the generals called it...

‘My lady...I..I’m afraid we lost track of the survivor...witnesses say he vanished on board a flying vessel of unknown design...pirates most likely...’ Angry noises of grinding metal and smoke shooting out of the lower bars hurt her ears.

‘We could still find him!! There’s not a single place on this earth that the Empire can’t reach my lady!!’ she said in panic, not wanting to be a burned mass of flesh on the ground. The floor opened in front of her and a metal arm slowly rose up, holding a key card, black with yellow edges.

She knew that color all to well...

‘As you wish my lady...’ she took the card and quickly left the chamber. She walked to the Dimaryp’s main control center, full of large consoles and screens scrolling down long lists of names, statistics, maps and photographs, many of them mugshots of “undesirables”.

She inserted the card into the largest console and four large round lights lit up in yellow. ‘Whats her command?’ a voice spoke trough the speakers on the sides of its screen. ‘There’s a certain male the empress wants found, he carries an object of great importance. A box shape piece of technology, old world. Its to be brought here at any costs..’

‘We’ll head out..’ The speakers went silent, even without a hint of it she knew they were already out the building. Now it was just a matter of waiting...the Shades never failed their missions...never.

0