Little Fish in a Big Pond
Hello! Salutations everyone. I am starting my new story, its going to be about a common man that is invited to Rapture and he gets mixed up in the unfolding crisis that is the rapture civil war and the ultimate down fall of city. But no matter...before any of said events happen he will establish himself! Wish me luck!
StuckInShanghai
Chapter One: The ordinary in the extraordinary
It was a cheerful day, as all early June days were in Avon, North Carolina. The wind swept off the white sand dunes and the sun shone, which made everything have a warm glow. On this particular day a man named Victor Wade was in town helping a man that asked him to fix his submersible craft. Sparks flew off the riveted steel of the submersible as the titanium plate was finally properly patched into the side of the lower hull. "Jesus Christ I couldn't get a good bead on that titanium if my life depended on it." he sighed "At least the hard part is over now." He chucked to himself as he looked at the exterior of the craft. He glanced over the long slender cigar shaped object, he wondered if he needed to fix or replace any rivets. As far as he could see the outside of it didn't have any busted. He yelled out to the man outside the garage, "Hey! I need some help getting inside this thing."
A middle aged man with black hair quickly came into the garage and said " Oh yea just turn that hatch on top of the mid section there." Victor then grabbed the airlock and turned it forcefully, with some effort the submarine decompressed and the hatch swung open. He then went in head first, landing on the cold interior metal. "Jeez its freezing in here." The other man followed suite and crawled in behind him. "So what do you think of my contraption?" the older man smiled. "Well I can't say its very roomy, I can only sit up about three or four feet in here. I don't see how you sit in this for hours at a time." The man replied "Well you have to make sacrifices to get research sometimes." Victor scanned the interior looking for any bulges or warping of the metal. After some examination Victor said "Well it looks like on the inside there is no damage to body, which is great." He then added " How did this thing get a hole in it again?" the man replied "About a week ago I was gathering research on the deterioration of metal in undersea environments, I just got done looking at a shipwreck off the coast and I was making my ascent up. I didn't notice a steep shoal above me and I slammed right into it." he stopped then continued "Thank God I was able to make it back up to the surface with that huge breech in my hull." Victor gave him a nod and said "Lets go to the control room I want to check the pressure and see if it is balanced." He then made his way to the front of the craft and sat down in the drivers booth of the submersible. The chair was part of an old bench seat in a car, it was almost comfortable. In front of him was the control panel he saw the ballast tank controls, ship rotary controls, water temp, and the pressure gauge. He eyeballed the pressure gauge and it looked like the sub had a stable pressure range which was good considering the hull suffered damage. Victor turned to the man and said "The Pressure looks stable, I think your vessel is ship shape!" "Great!, lets get out of this tin can." He replied enthusiastically.
They both exited the submarine and walked out of the garage. "Well I think your vessel is fixed, I suggest you do a test run before you dive too deep." he laughed "Well thank you so much you are a life saver, oh yes I almost forgot here is your pay." The man gave Victor four hundred and thirty five dollars in cash. "Ill give you a bottle of my wives homemade wine as well as a gift!" Victor looked flattered and said "Well you don't have to do all of that." He scratched the back of his head. "Nonsense." He said. The man ran into his house and came back, he handed Victor a violet wine bottle and thanked him generously. "Call me if you need any more assistance i've got a landline." The man waved him off as he got into his car and left. Victor then drove back to his home in Ocracoke. When he got to his home it was dusk and the sky was a vibrant orange, he thought 'What a beautiful day.' He parked his car in the driveway and walked over to his mailbox, it was overflowing with mail. 'Looks like all the mail for the week came.' He sighed and took all the envelopes in his arms and walked over to his front door and unlocked it difficultly. He then proceeded to go to the kitchen and throw all of the mail onto the table. He was worn out, he went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer. He popped it open and sipped on it, he thought. 'Maybe I should call mom and dad, I haven't seen or talked to them in a while since i,ve moved down to the coast.' But he was too tired to talk to anyone or go anywhere, so the rest of the night he went out onto his balcony and watched the waves and had a few beers. The next morning he woke up around 7:00, he was surprised with himself because he usually slept in. He went out side and fetched the newspaper, he walked to the mailbox waved to one of his neighbors. He smelled the salty morning air and heard the gulls chirping. He looked out the sea and saw the usual early morning choppiness to the water, after staring for a minute he came back in and put the kettle on the stove.
After a few minutes the kettle was whistling and he poured himself a cup of tea. He sat down at the kitchen table and noticed he didn't open any mail from yesterday, he wanted to look at the paper first. He opened the paper and the Head line read "June. 11. 1957." "Hundreds of people are going missing around the world, what is responsible for there disappearance." This immediately caught his eye he read the article below. "Many adults in a wide variety of ages have been disappearing over the last decade, they seem to vanish without a trace. More and more are vanishing each year. Many of them being very talented and successful people, some are large business and corporation owners. Who is to say that they are not being kidnapped because a possible communist scheme?" Victor thought hard and he remembered back that there were reports of people going missing in his general area, but he as did the general population did just shrugged it off. Everyone was used to people going away and never coming back, the second world war made people really accustomed to it. For the most part he didn't know what to make of it, he just didn't want to go missing one day. He laughed it off, he remembered the stories that his father told him of being in the trenches fighting in the great war. Dad would tell about how his battalion would be in the mud taking cover from a German artillery barrage and he and a handful of a few other men would be the only survivors. Victor solemnly remembered his fathers war tales. 'I care a lot about mom and dad, I regret that I don't see them enough.' He shrugged off the memory, then he began to go through the letters strewn about his dining room table. He went through many pieces of junk mail, newsletters, telemarketer sales letters and such. He opened two bills one for electricity and another from the milkman, he received three checks as well for his sale of a few crates of cigars and a repair of another vessels rotary turbine.
A smile came to his face, he knew his payday has arrived. He thought. 'Yes! I can finally buy those lawn chairs!' He noticed at the bottom of the pile was a cream colored envelope, with a wax stamp sealing it. 'I wonder what this is? maybe it's a letter from an old friend, nah i don't think so I didn't have many, maybe its from back home.' He took out a small pocket knife and broke the seal of the envelope, he took the letter out of the envelope unfolded it and read. "Dear Mr. Wade have you ever wondered what the world would be like if you could reap the rewards of your labor? Are you tired of the institution of the state holding great men back from thriving? Do you see the idea of the greater good as nothing more than an illusion? Do you despise the leeches that do nothing and benefit from other peoples work? Have you ever imagined a place were a man could truly own his own work and become great? Well such a place exists, I have addressed this letter to you Victor James Wade as an invitation to my glorious city the city of Rapture. A man of your determination would be much appreciated in my society. Sincerely- Andrew Ryan." Another little slip of paper was in the envelope it read. "If interested go to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse exactly one week from now at 12 midnight, pack your things, take all valuables you will depart for the city, no firearms allowed. You may bring three close family members. Bring the invitation as a ticket, all who arrive without a ticket will be left behind. Destroy this information slip whatever you decide to do. Do not speak of this whatsoever to anyone, if word gets out about the city your life will be at risk, we have eyes and ears everywhere- I." Victor read the note over and over again he thought to himself 'What does this mean, who is this man, what is this city he is inviting me to?'
He then went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth he ran his fingers through his blonde hair and contemplated on what the letters contained. 'Why did they invite me? How do they even know about me? I don't even really have any friends, I never have. How could they know my whereabouts? Have they been watching me? They said they have eyes everywhere.' Questions flew through his head at a million miles an hour. he thought 'Maybe they are watching me right now.' He then went through the house closing all the blinds and locking all the doors. Frantically he went to his bedroom and got his rifle from his closet and loaded it. He was in complete shock at what those messages conveyed. Shaky he decided to crack open that bottle of wine he got as a gift to take the edge off, he opened it and took a swift chug.
Thoughts swirled through his head 'I wonder if this Andrew Ryan knew about my stance on things like government reliance and aid.' He sighed as he took another swig. 'He couldn't have known about those letters I sent to that news publisher on how I disagreed with policies like The New Deal, but theres no way he saw those or did he? Maybe thats the reason why he invited me to his city.' 'I dunno I just don't like the fact I have been watched.' He then slumped down on his bed thinking about how his life just got a lot more interesting.