The Beautiful City

By: SilvorMoon

Jack and his friends had stopped driving a short ways from the Chevalier colony dome. Yusei and Bruno were helping Jack and Crow load their cycles into the back of Kiryu's cart, while Carly watched anxiously from the driver's seat of the battleship.

"I sure hope this works," she muttered.

"It was your idea," Kiryu reminded her, "and we don't have any better ones."

As the other men finished fastening the cycles into place, Kiryu approached them with an armload of gray sheets.

"Time for me to tuck you into bed," he said, flashing one of his disturbing smiles.

"I really don't like this," Crow muttered. "It's creepy."

"Oh, hush," said Kiryu cheerfully. "I promise everything has been disinfected."

Crow looked at Jack.

"Why does that somehow make it worse?" he asked.

"Shut up and lie down," Jack muttered.

The cart had been designed to hold up to six bodies, strapped to narrow shelves against the walls. Jack was familiar with them, but had never actually tried to lie on one. They were hard and uncomfortable, having never been meant to accommodate the living. He lay down on a lower shelf and allowed Kiryu to secure him loosely in place. He didn't like the idea, but the restraints would keep him from falling off if the cart took an unexpected jolt. The last thing he needed was to give away the game by involuntarily grabbing something to keep from landing on the floor. Once he was secure, Kiryu draped a sheet over him, concealing him from head to toe.

"Nighty-night," he heard Kiryu say, the sound muffled by the blanket. Then there was the sound of rustling and shuffling, as Kiryu presumably began tucking Crow, Yusei, and Bruno into their own niches. Kiryu, of course, would be driving his cart, and Carly would be driving the battleship. She did have a passcard of her own, she explained, that would allow her to return to the colony of her choosing, should she ever wish to give up her life at the station, or if her soundhouse sustained damage serious enough to make it unlivable. She had spent the better part of the morning learning how to handle the battleship's controls, and had caught on fairly well. She wasn't ready yet to make a solo cross-country trip, but she could drive it well enough that no one seeing her pull into the airlock would suspect she hadn't driven it this far on her own.

"Is everyone secure back there?" Kiryu called.

There were murmurs of assent. Jack attempted to make himself more comfortable on his shelf. Once the airlock doors opened, he wouldn't have any more opportunities to move. He felt the gentle lurch of the cart starting, and he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. The last thing he needed was to be given away by his racing heartbeat.

So this is what it's like to be dead. I always knew I'd end up here, sooner or later.

After a while, the cart slowed, then stopped. He guessed that Carly had gone ahead through the airlock, and was having her vehicle inspected. She was in less danger than the rest of them. It might be strange for her to show up driving a modified tanker with two cycles in the back, there was nothing in the rulebook that said she couldn't. Her story was that she'd built it herself out of things she'd bought or traded for from passing drivers, and her status as a soundhouse keeper, who would need to know how to maintain complex machinery, made the story at least superficially believable. Of course, Jack wouldn't know if they believed her or not until he'd made it past the second gate...

The cart rumbled forwards again. He felt the bumps as the front and then rear wheels passed from hard-packed earth to metal flooring, and heard the hum and clang of the doors sliding shut behind him. He waited, drawing his breaths slowly.

The back door's lock rattled open. Jack stopped breathing and forced every muscle to go slack. He could make out Kiryu's voice, echoing and distorted by the hollow space of the airlock, as he talked to the guard. The cart shifted as someone stepped into the hold. Jack fought the urge to start breathing again, and hoped fiercely that no one would sneeze.

"Four?" said the guard.

Kiryu said something in return; Jack heard the word "bandits" and something about luring people into a pit, and "could only salvage two cycles". The rest was lost to Jack, but it seemed to satisfy the guard. The doors closed again, and Jack slowly let out a sigh of relief. No one, it seemed, liked to spend very much time around the dead - except perhaps Kiryu.

There were a few more exchanges of words, too muffled to hear, and then the cart started rolling again. It traveled a good distance this time, and Jack had enough time to start wondering if perhaps their ruse had been discovered after all. Jack had never liked being confined, and being strapped down to a narrow shelf and covered with a blanket was making him slowly frantic. He had to force himself not to start thrashing. It was cool in the cart, but he was still sweating, and his heart pounded as if it might escape without him. At last, the cart came to a halt, and the back doors opened again.

"All clear," said Kiryu.

"Let me out," Jack demanded.

"I'm working on it," said Kiryu, and mercifully, the blanket was pulled away. Briskly, he undid the straps on Jack's wrists, and left him to finish unbuckling himself while Kiryu moved on to the others. Jack hurried to unfasten the ties around his chest and ankles.

"Where are we?" Crow asked.

Kiryu shrugged. "The morgue. Where else can I drop off dead bodies? Don't worry, I made sure no one was around. We can get out without being seen if we move fast. Carly had to leave your tanker at the parking garage, but she said she'd meet us at the fountain circle."

"Great," said Crow, as he slid off his shelf, narrowly avoiding kicking Yusei, who was trying to do the same thing below him. "The most beautiful city in the world, and the first thing I get to see is the morgue."

Fortunately, the morgue was not a particularly active place. In the old world, when people died, they might be buried whole, dressed in their best clothes and placed in elaborate caskets. There had once been whole tracts of land devoted to nothing but giving each of the departed their own private resting place, perhaps marked with a stone or a statue or even an entire mausoleum. This world had no place for that kind of wastefulness. When people died, they were quietly cremated and their ashes sent to deliver precious nutrients to the fragile farmland, and if a family wanted something to remember their loved ones by, they made do with personal belongings. Someone very important, like a mayor or a scientist, might get a plaque on a wall somewhere commemorating their achievements, but that was the limit of public memorials. Jack wasn't sure that he didn't prefer the old way. With no family to leave anything to, and very little to leave behind in any case, he wouldn't have minded a stone with his name on it somewhere to remind people that he'd been there in the first place.

He shook himself free of such morbid thoughts as he gratefully left the cart behind. Recent experiences aside, he wasn't dead yet, and he had work to do.

"Does anyone know how to get to the fountain circle?" asked Crow.

"I do," said Jack. "Just follow me and pretend you're tourists."

Technically, there were no fountains in fountain circle. Not even the most selfish and careless person was indulgent enough to own a machine that had no point but to spray precious water for no other reason than because it was pretty - never mind the energy it would take to keep such a machine going in the first place. These days, "fountain" had come to mean a type of planter built in some sort of decorative shape, from which vines and other trailing plants would spill. The traditional colors for these flowers were blue, white, and violet, but not everyone remembered these days that the colors were meant to mimic falling water.

Chevalier's fountain circle, though, did contain a great many of these planters, full of flowers in every color of the rainbow, arranged so that viewing the circle as a whole created a pleasing aesthetic effect. The roads had been paved in mosaic tiles, and even the poles of street signs were crafted with curlicues and metal vines creeping up their sides. This was a city that had devoted itself to decorating things, and had only limited numbers of things to decorate. The detail was nearly overwhelming. Jack found Carly standing in front of the most ornate fountain, gawking shamelessly.

"You didn't tell me it looked like this!" she said when she caught sight of him.

"How was I supposed to explain it?" Jack replied.

"You could have at least tried," she said. "Anyway, I'm glad you guys are okay. I was a little worried."

"I've had more fun in my life," said Crow. "I'm glad I never wanted to be a courier if that's how you end up."

"It wouldn't bother you if you were dead," Kiryu pointed out.

Jack changed the subject. "The university is that building there with the green roof - the one with the statues of philosophers on the corners. Do you feel up to hunting down the professor?"

"It looks big," said Carly. "Where am I supposed to look for him?"

"Ask a secretary," said Jack, drawing on years of delivering things to important people. "Places like that always have secretaries."

"Right," she said. She drew herself up, looking determined. "Here goes nothing."

She headed for the front steps of the building. The others, having nothing else to do, settled down on the edge of the fountain to wait. Jack closed his eyes. The tension of the day had drained him; it was good to rest here, where it was cool and the air was scented by flowers and sweet-smelling herbs. He was nearly dozing by the time Carly came back.

"Did you find him?" Yusei asked eagerly.

"He wasn't there," said Carly. She brandished a paper. "I got his address, though. The lady said he lives close by."

"Let's find him, then," said Crow, bouncing to his feet.

"I wonder why he wasn't there," said Bruno. "Today's a weekday. Shouldn't he be teaching or something?"

"I guess not," said Carly. "The secretary said he was taking a sabbatical."

"Maybe he knows what's coming," said Yusei, looking grim.

They found the professor's house, a modest narrow building, as decorated as the others but somewhat less well-kept. The carvings were crumbling, and the paint was flaking. The flowers looked as though someone had forgotten to water them for a few days, their leaves drooping and petals limp. Jack found himself wondering if the professor was really even there.

Yusei rapped on the door. Almost instantly, it opened, but only an inch or two.

"No visitors," said a female voice, and the door slammed shut.

Jack pushed past Yusei and hammered on the door himself.

"Go away," said the voice. "I said, no visitors."

"We're not visitors," said Jack. "I'm a courier. My name is Jack Atlas. I have a message here. I was told to give it to Mayor Rutger Goodwin in Momentum, but I plan on giving it to Professor LeBlanc instead. Ask him if he wants it."

There was a pause. Then the door opened, revealing a strikingly beautiful blonde woman wearing a courier's leather suit.

"Inside. Fast," she said.

No one wasted any time getting inside. The inside of the house was even more untidy than the outside. Papers, bits of machinery, and empty mugs were strewn on every flat surface. The young woman looked at the chaos with vague dismay, as though just realizing it was there.

"Forgive the mess," she said. "We've been busy."

She led them to a trapdoor in the floor, and then down a flight of stone steps into a brightly lit basement. The air smelled of machine oil and hummed with small motors. In the midst of it all, a distinguished-looking man with a dark beard and gold-rimmed glasses moved purposely through the mess. When he heard footsteps approaching, he looked up sharply.

"Father, we have guests," she said. "I thought you might want to hear what they have to say."

"Thank you," he replied. He turned to his visitors. "I apologize for my lack of hospitality, but my life has been somewhat hectic as of late. I'm Rene LeBlanc, and this is my daughter Sherry. And you?"

"He says he's Jack Atlas, the courier," Sherry supplied.

The professor regarded Jack thoughtfully.

"Well, he matches the descriptions," he said. "And who are these?"

"Friends," said Jack tersely. He didn't see any reason to give his friends' life stories to a relative stranger. "We wanted to talk to you. About the Yliasters. And the spiritstorms."

"Ahh," said LeBlanc. "I thought someone might. Well, sit down if you can find the room, and I'll see if I can facilitate some exchange of knowledge."

"Facilitate exchange of knowledge?" Crow repeated. "You must be a real joy as a teacher."

LeBlanc laughed softly. "My apologies. I'm more accustomed to academic lectures than casual conversation." He turned to his daughter. "Sherry, love, keep an eye on the door. This many people visiting at once may draw attention."

"Are you sure?" she asked. She cast a glance over the assembled company. After sleeping on the road for days, none of them looked particularly reputable. Jack had to admit, he wouldn't have trusted them either.

"I'll take a chance," said LeBlanc.

Sherry gave Jack a final glare before sweeping off with a huff.

"Pardon my daughter," said LeBlanc. "She's inclined to be protective. Perhaps you understand why."

"I would be, too," said Yusei quietly, "if I were in your place."

"Ah, yes," said LeBlanc, looking at him closely. "You're the living image of your father. You are Professor Fudo's son, aren't you?"

"You knew him?" asked Yusei.

"I was aware of him, though I can't say that I knew him well, more's the pity," LeBlanc replied. "He was a brilliant man. I wish I had learned more from him."

Jack reached under his jacket and took out the much-abused letter, the one that had started him on this mad chase. He smoothed it out and passed it to LeBlanc.

"What can you tell me about this?" he asked.

LeBlanc took the paper and read it slowly. Jack watched the expressions flash across his face. This, he thought, was a man who hadn't wanted to believe his time was up. Had known it, yes, but hadn't wanted to believe it.

"I'd like to believe this proves I can trust you," the professor said at last, handing the note back to Jack. "I'm just not sure what we can do to help each other."

"Can you tell us more about these storms?" Yusei asked. "Even if it won't help anything, I want to know."

LeBlanc smiled a little. "I should have known. Very well, I'll tell you. It will be some comfort for me, at least, to know that someone else knows what I know."

He stood up and began pacing the floor.

"The first thing you need to know is that the storms are man-made," he said. "Originally, they weren't created intentionally. They are a side effect of the machinery that provides power to the colonies." His expression was grave. "We could have focused our energies into preventing them, or lessening their intensity. Instead, humanity looked at them and saw them as a tool, as a weapon. I have been researching the mechanics behind the storms, but I believe now that this information has gone towards others learning how to manipulate the storms, to control when and where they appear."

"What does make them work?" Carly asked. She looked impressed at being in the presence of someone who had contributed to her program.

"I recognize your voice. You're the young lady from the radio," said LeBlanc. "I enjoyed your discussion of your work - I wish I had been able to tell you everything I knew on the subject. Now I'll tell you. The machinery that supplies our power is doing so by siphoning it out of another world."

"Another world?" Crow repeated. "Like, another planet?"

"Another reality entirely," said LeBlanc seriously. "The world the monsters come from. Did you think they came out of thin air?"

"I always figured they were, I dunno, mutants or something," Crow admitted.

"Let me show you," said LeBlanc.

He turned on a computer and began opening programs.

"Some time ago, I paid a courier to place capsules containing cameras at various points in the wilderness," he explained as he worked. "They were set to activate if something stirred them up, like a spiritstorm, and relay the video back to me. I wanted to see what happened during a storm." He brought up a window and stepped aside. "Most of them never activated, or didn't give me any useful data. This is one of the few videos I was able to successfully record."

He stood back so they could see the screen, which showed a blur of whirling dust. After a few seconds, the view cleared a bit, and Jack saw that the camera was circling the eye of the storm. As it rose, he saw the same strange sight he had seen before: a circle of green at the apex of the storm. He leaned forward, squinting at the blurry screen. The camera rose more slowly as it drew nearer to the green light, and for a few seconds, he thought it would run out of momentum and fall. Then, impossibly, it began picking up speed again. The dust cleared. The camera now seemed to be plummeting downward, towards a carpet of what were, indisputably, trees. It tumbled dizzyingly, its balance upset by the change in gravity, and Jack caught a glimpse of distant mountains. Then he was looking at a clear blue sky with a few wispy white clouds floating through it. Then the camera dropped through the canopy. It bounced through branches and finally came to rest in a heap of fallen leaves.

After a few seconds, someone walked up to the camera. He was definitely a person, but not one like Jack had ever seen before. He had a faintly violet tint to his skin, and his ears rose to graceful points. Even stranger, he had shimmering insect wings on his back. He nudged the camera with his toe and shouted something inaudible to someone out of sight. Then the camera cut out.

The room was full of breathless silence. LeBlanc smiled thinly.

"Provocative, wouldn't you say?"

"Not the word I would have used," said Crow dryly.

"I don't believe it," said Carly, shaking her head wonderingly. "A whole other world..."

"I saw it," said Jack. "When I was caught in the storm. Just before the monster came, I looked up and saw the trees. I didn't know what they were, but I saw them. It's real."

"Amazing," said Yusei.

"I have other videos that confirm it," said LeBlanc, "but this is the only one that has people in it. I wanted you to have some idea of the scope of this matter. It doesn't only affect us, you see - it affects unknown numbers of other races and species."

He turned the screen off again and switched to a different window.

"This is what I theorize," he said. "This world has nearly used up our supply of readily available energy. While it's true that energy can neither be created or destroyed, it can be converted into states that we can't easily utilize. For years, humanity relied on fossil fuels to supply large amounts of energy. When those ran out, we went into a panic. We tried other things - wind, water, sunlight. Some of them worked quite well. We might have made great strides in that direction, but the someone invented something new: a machine that seemed to pull energy from nowhere. No fuel went in, but energy went out. It seemed to be a miracle."

"And you're saying that energy came from this other world?" Bruno asked, interested.

"Precisely," LeBlanc replied. "For a long time, there were no obvious results. From what little my cameras can tell, the other world doesn't appear to be heavily industrialized. They aren't using as much energy as rapidly as we were, so they may not have even noticed not having as much to draw on as they used to. Eventually, though, we reached a tipping point. That was when the storms began. To put it into very crude terms… imagine it as being two connected tanks, with the contents of one being drawn into the other. Originally, both of them are full, but the walls of the tanks have a bit of give - they bend a little. So one of them is slowly becoming pressurized, while a vacuum is being created in the other. The walls give and give, until eventually..."

"They bounce back," said Carly, catching on. "That's what the storms are, right? They're balancing the - the pressure between the worlds."

"Absolutely right," said LeBlanc. "As it happens, sometimes things get pulled back and forth between worlds. On our side, we lose anything that happens to be outside during a storm - like couriers, for example. On their side, it seems, they lose the occasional monster."

"That explains why you always find them around storms," said Crow. "That's where they fall out."

"Or," said Jack, thinking of the intelligence he'd seen in the dragon's eyes, "because they're looking for a way back home."

"You're not the first to have that idea," said LeBlanc, nodding approvingly. "If there's time, I'll put you in touch with some people who are thinking more about monsters than I am."

"I guess I can see why these guys want you dead," said Crow. "I mean, we kinda knew that there was something off about the storms and monsters and all, but you've got the proof."

"I have theories," LeBlanc corrected. "Substantiated by evidence, of course, but still only a working hypothesis. There are still some details I don't quite understand yet. But that isn't why I'm a wanted man right now." He walked over to a work bench and picked up an odd flat device, glossy blue on one side and trailing wires on the other. "Would you like to guess what this is?"

"Save time and tell us," said Jack.

LeBlanc bowed his head. "Forgive my pedagogical flourishes. This is a solar panel. It's made from various readily available metals and minerals, and from chemical compounds derived from plants. If we ended the storms, it would be completely safe to use these panels. They would provide safe and steady energy, and be comparatively easy to manufacture. And yet, when I suggested using them as an alternative, I was turned away. I believe, in fact, that this might be the reason why they truly want me dead - not for knowing what's wrong with our current system, but for presenting viable competition to it."

"So what can we do?" Yusei asked. "That's what I want to know. How do we stop these people?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," said LeBlanc. "I'm only a researcher. I find things out; I don't always know what do to with them once I've found them. I'd like to get the word out to as many people as possible, but... I worry for the safety of my daughter. Sherry is good at taking care of herself, but these people are beyond her abilities. I know if I go too far, they will come for her." He smiled bleakly. "It may be a bit late for worrying, though. Here." He reached for his computer and detached a small portable hard drive, which he passed to Yusei. "This is the distillation of my research - everything I know about the storms and the generators, the videos of the other world, the plans for the solar panels, including the processes I used to refine minerals and distil the chemicals I used... and a few other things besides. Look over everything. Make copies. Pass it on. It's the least I can do for you."

Yusei looked stunned. "But sir, this is..."

"In memory of your father," said LeBlanc. "Now, what I would suggest doing next is to head for the Arcadia colony. There are people there who might be in sympathy with your cause. You're going to have to be careful, though, because..."

Footsteps raced down the stairs. Sherry came bursting into the room, her hair in disarray and a riding helmet in one hand.

"Father, there's a storm," she said. "It started just now, directly over the city."

The color drained from LeBlanc's face. "They wouldn't."

"They have," said Sherry tersely. "Someone has been watching us."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence?" Carly offered weakly.

LeBlanc shook his head. "I doubt it. It's time to get out of here. Take the things I gave you and go. Head for the Arcadia colony. The mayor..."

There was a boom overhead, loud enough to make everyone clap their hands to their ears, followed by a drawn-out rushing sound.

"What was that?" Crow shouted over the noise.

LeBlanc, still reeling from the impact, half-staggered across the room to turn on a screen. Confused black and white images flickered across it. He looked back at his guests, his face grim.

"The colony shell has been breached," he said.

He didn't say anything else. He didn't have to. Jack felt his insides go cold. This city was about to become a second Satellite, and there was nothing any of them could do about it. This city and most of the people in it were about to die.

"We've got to get out. Now," he said. He was already starting towards the stairs, waving for his friends to follow him.

LeBlanc nodded. He threw off his lab coat, revealing a courier's protective suit beneath it, and snatched up a helmet that had been half-buried beneath a pile of odds and ends.

"Don't worry about me," he said. "We've been preparing. Just get yourselves to safety. When you get to Arcadia, find..."

There was another crash.

"The roof's caving in!" Sherry shouted. "We have to go now!"

"The back door, hurry!" LeBlanc ordered.

He ran, and the others followed. He led them through a side door in the basement, into a subterranean passage. It was dark, lit only by flickering lights that were already beginning to go out as the colony's power failed. They could still hear muffled cracks and thumps above them as they ran.

At the end of the passage was a room with two cycles and a dirt ramp leading back up to the road. LeBlanc and his daughter pulled on their helmets, and Sherry wrestled open the lock, which was stiff with disuse. She wrenched it open and flung it away. Freed from their constraints, the doors flew open as soon as she pushed on them, caught up by the force of the wind.

"Where are you going? Are you going to be all right?" Yusei called. His voice was nearly inaudible over the roar of the storm.

"We have a safe house set up a few miles from here," said LeBlanc, "and you'll forgive me if I don't tell you exactly where. Good luck, and don't expect to ever hear from us again."

The two of them revved their engines and raced off into the storm.

"We need to get out of here, too," said Crow.

"Our bikes are back at the morgue," said Jack. "Yusei, Bruno, Carly - get back to the battleship. The rest of us will catch up. If we don't, set a course for Arcadia."

"Jack..." Carly protested, reaching for him. He shoved her away.

"Get going!" he ordered.

He raced out the door, trusting Crow and Kiryu to follow him. He heard Carly protesting and Yusei and Bruno trying to calm her down. He hoped she'd see reason. What he wasn't going to say now was that he felt she had a better chance of surviving if she rode the battleship, which had armor and supplies. But his cycle had supplies, too, and so did Crow's cycle and Kiryu's cart, supplies that they would need if all six of them were to make it to Arcadia alive. Someone had to go get the rest of their vehicles. Even more than that, his cycle was all he had left of his career as a courier. He wasn't prepared to leave it behind.

The streets were full of people. They weren't going anywhere yet - they didn't know where to go. Their world was literally falling down around their ears, and there was no safety wherever they turned. The wind whipped up dust and stripped the plants of their leaves and blossoms. Jack watched as a piece of a roof was torn off by the wind and tumbled down to crush a statue below it, and then flinched as bits of debris pelted him. Above him, the lights on the ceiling of the dome had gone dark, save for a wide and rapidly spreading gap that was open to the sky. The darkness only added to the confusion.

"Which way?" he shouted, hesitating at a crossroad. He could barely hear himself over the sound of the storm and the cries of the citizens.

Kiryu may not have heard him, but he turned and beckoned before running down a side street, and Jack and Crow raced to follow him. The alley was narrower than the main streets, and had fewer people in it, as well as less open space for chunks of the roof to fall through. They stumbled and scrambled over smaller chunks of broken masonry, shielding their eyes against the wind.

They reached the morgue and rushed inside. The building was a sturdy one, meant to contain the powerful ovens used for cremating the dead, and it hadn't yet been damaged badly by the storm. The men worked swiftly to unload their cycles from the back of Kiryu's cart. When they had finished, he swiftly unhitched the trailer, leaving the three-wheeled front cart free. Jack nodded approval; it still had its compartments for supplies, but it would go faster without the trailer. Without a word, the three of them mounted up and drove into the streets.

The situation was deteriorating rapidly. Jack tried not to look at the bodies of those who had already fallen victim to the flying debris. Some of them were already clearly dead. Jack was used to those. He'd seen worse during his stint as a Death's Angel. What was harder to see were the ones who were simply injured, but who couldn't get away and who had no one to help them. They were probably going to die slowly, of blood loss or dehydration, and it would be a painful and lonely death, and he couldn't stop to do anything about it.

I'll get the ones who did this, he promised as he drove by, but it didn't feel like enough.

Up above their heads, there was a resounding groan, and then a crack. A chunk of the roof thirty feet long was slowly breaking away from the rest of the ceiling. As if in slow motion, it sailed downwards onto the buildings below it, throwing up plumes of dust that were snatched up by the ever-strengthening wind. Jack flinched and tried to swerve as brick and glass flew into his path.

"Guys, I don't think we're going to make it!" Crow shouted.

Jack didn't say anything, but he privately was starting to agree. Taking the cycles through the streets would have been hard enough, but when the roads were clogged with panicking people or immobile bodies, or blocked by heaps of rubble. The three of them swerved, dodged, backtracked, and forced their way forward again. Jack's world narrowed to these things: the wind, the dust, the constant hail of debris, the noise in his ears, and a nightmare of bloody streets that never ended no matter how far he drove.

There was another earshattering roar. Jack looked up, expecting to see another piece of the ceiling break away, and as he did so, he saw a light within the swirling dust and smoke. Smoke? That wasn't just a light, and that sound wasn't just cracking masonry...

The storm is a cover-up. This place was bombed. They had this prepared in advance. You were right, LeBlanc, they were watching you all along...

He drove around a corner and skidded to a halt. The others, close behind him, swerved rapidly to avoid colliding with him. Across their path, a building had collapsed, blocking their exit.

"Dead end," said Kiryu. "Which way now?"

"I don't know," Jack admitted. He was only marginally familiar with the city's layout, and his senses were confused by the wreckage and his constant turning and backtracking. He was lost, and they were all cornered.

While he was still reconciling himself to that grim reality, there was another crash. Another piece of the ceiling fell in, and Jack dove for what cover could be found behind some of the other rubble. The noise seemed go on for several minutes, and he braced himself, shut his eyes, and hoped for the best.

But when he finally dared to look out again, he was sorry he had. The road was buried in brick and metal, and even their cycles were half-covered in rubble. There was no way out now, except on foot.

That's it, he thought numbly. We're out of ways out. We'll never make it across the desert without wheels...

This was ridiculous. They were going to die, and his friends were going to die, and he was never going to finish dealing with the people responsible for it all. That rankled.

Now would be a good time for another dragon to show up and save me, he thought, with grim humor. Something like that wasn't going to happen a second time.

Something above him shrieked. He looked up, expecting to see his doom plummeting down on him in the form of another piece of the roof. Instead, a black dragon covered from end to end in staring eyes was swooping down on him. He gawked at it. A very small part of him was wondering how it kept the swirling dust out of all those eyes. Kiryu shouted and grabbed a chunk of brick, apparently thinking to throw it, but Jack grabbed his wrist.

"No, I think this one is on our side," he said.

The dragon dropped to the ground. It wouldn't have fit in the narrow street if some of the buildings hadn't already collapsed. As it was, it had plenty of room, even when a second dragon dropped down to join it, and then a flock of oversized birds. The dragons began busily digging their cycles out of the rubble.

"What are they doing?" Crow asked.

"Helping us, I think," said Jack.

He took a few careful steps towards one of the dragons. He couldn't be sure, but he had the feeling it was the same red dragon that had rescued him before. How many red dragons could there be in the world? He picked his way across the rubble until he was standing directly in front of it. He put a hand out to touch its foreleg. Its scales were smooth as ceramic, and warm to the touch.

"Can you get us out of here?" he asked.

The dragon dipped its head, as though it had been waiting for him to ask. It seized Jack's cycle in one claw and Jack in the other, scooping him off the ground. He gave a cry of surprise as the ground dropped away beneath him, and kept dropping as the dragon leaned back on its haunches. The second dragon grabbed Crow and Kiryu in its claws, and the flock of birds gathered around the other two cycles and lifted them up with a great fluttering of wings. Then the dragons pumped their own wings, fighting to pull themselves aloft in the storm-tossed air, and Jack felt his stomach drop as he began rocketing skywards. Soon the colony was far below him, nearly obscured by the swirling dust. The dragon wobbled as it tried to keep itself steady in the turbulent air, and Jack closed his eyes and concentrated on keeping his stomach steady.

They only flew a short distance, just far enough to escape the worst of the wind. Then the dragons came down with a bump, releasing their passengers to stagger onto the sand. The cycles were set down a bit more gently, as if the dragons understood that these machines couldn't look after themselves the way humans might. As soon as everything had been deposited securely on the ground, the dragons bowed their heads again, and the birds fluttered as one group in a large circle. Then they all flapped away again, disappearing into the dust of the storm. The three men stood silently, listening to the rush of the wind.

"Well," said Crow at last, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was definitely the weirdest thing to ever happen to me."

"Better hope it's the weirdest thing that's going to ever happen to you," said Kiryu. He climbed onto his cart and checked to see if it would still start. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here."

Jack nodded. "If we hurry, we can still catch up with the others."

The others agreed, and they revved their engines and tore off over the sand in the direction of the Arcadia colony. As they drove off, Jack cast a final look over his shoulder. The storm was already dying down, the dust beginning to dissipate. He could see the outline of the colony's dome, no longer smooth, but crumpling in on itself, leaving long rents torn in its sides. In a few years, it would be another Satellite, a heap of rusting metal and crumbling stone, with few left alive who remembered it as it had been. Jack sighed and turned his back on what had once been the most beautiful city in the world.

To Be Continued…