All Light Will Fall (3 page)

“If it gets any closer, it’ll run right into us.”

Fern shook her head. “They said that Plymouth 2 has a fixed
orbital pattern...”

“So?”

“So they were able to determine the intervals that the
planet rotates. They said on its eight hundredth orbit it will be closer to
Venus. Sooner or later it will leave the solar system.”

“Says who?”

Fern shrugged. “Them,” she said, pointing to the
halo-screen.

By them, she meant ARTIKA.

ARTIKA was the government division established after the
Trinity Wars. When ARTIKA was born, democracy, capitalism, and global
enterprise became obsolete. The status quo was no longer built on a system of
currency. It was built on a system of world order.

ARTIKA controlled everything: technology, media, social
behavior, national security. There was nothing it couldn’t create and nothing
it couldn’t destroy. She was the mother system, the push and pull of the earth
that nurtured all things living. She thrived in the center of Helix City as
this massive pillar of light. That energy beaming above ARTIKA headquarters
never died out. It was alive.

Through that newly discovered energy, ARTIKA revolutionized
the human way of life. The energy, known as halos, was not of the earth. It was
supernatural in origin. In 2070, ARTIKA was able to harvest the halos energy.
With it, they did miraculous things.

ARTIKA used halos for agricultural growth. Anything we ate
contained halos. It was used for everything. ARTIKA used it to filter water,
build buildings, light residencies, and power metro stations. Later, however,
they developed ways to use halos for more violent and unnatural means.

Eventually, halos became a medicinal drug. It could
eradicate diseases and reduce aging. The ARTIKA science division used it for
cellular reconstruction and genetic modification. Nowadays, no one experienced
a natural birth. Under ARTIKA, couples went through a selective breeding
process to decide the outcome of their offspring. Eye color, height, speech,
skin color… every detail was sorted, matched, and analyzed before birth.

After the launch of selective breeding, technology
revolutionized. ARTIKA built machines, robotic sentinels and other advanced
weaponry. With halos, they created hovercrafts and laser shooters, id guns and
nano-explosives. It seemed like we were fighting a war again, but all was quiet
on the home front. The only hostilities within Helix City were the terrorist
attacks organized by the Defiant.

I watched Fern from behind. The room felt cold all of a
sudden, like the shadow of the mysterious
they
had entered. “I wonder if
there are people on it,” I whispered.

“On what?” Fern asked,” Plymouth 2?” I nodded. “There’s no
life on it. It’s just a giant mass of light, kind of like the sun.”

I stepped closer to the halo-screen. “And you believe them?
Everything they have ever told us, you believe it?”

I could hardly see her face. All was dark but the bright
flashes of the halo-screen around her. “Of course I do,” she said plainly. “Why
wouldn’t I?” Her answer was so final, so sure. Had she not any thoughts herself?
Had she not any curiosities herself?

“Turn it off,” I uttered.

She glanced back at me. “What for?”

I moved around the couch and reached for the remote. Fern
was quick and snatched it before I could get to it. I grabbed ahold of her.
“Give it to me!” I snapped.

“Corrine, let go! I had it first!” We wrestled to the floor.
I didn’t know where the sudden violence had come from, but I was determined. I
wanted to break the damn thing, throw it at the halo-screen, and shatter them
both to pieces.

“What in God’s name is going on here?”

I rolled off of Fern. Mother yanked me by the shoulder.
“Have you lost your mind?” she snapped.

I stumbled back into the couch and dropped the remote. “I
didn’t mean to,” I panted. Fern stared up at me from where she was huddled on
the floor. She looked startled. “I’m sorry.” My head was aching again. The room
seemed a bit blurry too. I needed to lay down.

“Corrine?” Mother whispered. I ignored her, stumbling out of
the living room and back to bed.

The following day, I barely left my room. Mother was worried
that I was sick. She brought me a glass of water and scanned my id marker.
According to the reading, I was in perfect health. Still, things were strange.
My body felt twisted, like it was changing, like it was waking up from a one
hundred yearlong sleep. I thought about the bombing often. I could hear it, the
people screaming and the sirens. I could feel the heat of the fire too, and the
smoke all around me.

It took a visit from Ellis for me to regain some sense. He
came to the house a week after the incident on Marx Avenue. I stood at the
front door, watching the snow fall. A figured appeared in the dark rouse of
smog. At times, I imagined it being my father. I dreamed of him rising through
those gray clouds on his way back to us. Ten years had passed since his
disappearance. He had left without a word. Sometimes I would think of him, but
he was nothing to me now. Nothing but a phantom of the mist.

I opened the door for Ellis before he could knock. He burst
into the apartment with a smile bright as day. That was so like Ellis.
Regardless of his scarred forehead and being covered in snow, he still found
something worthy of a smile.

I helped dust the snow from his jacket, then led him into
the living room. “Where’s your mom?” he asked.

I smiled. “She went out. Why? Are you avoiding her?”

“Of course I am. She’ll ring my neck for getting you into
trouble.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like you forced me. I went because I
wanted to.”

“You could have gotten seriously hurt in that attack.”

I sighed. “Don’t bring that up. It never happened,” I said.

Ellis ignored me. He caressed my chin, tilting my head to
the side. There was a fierce look in his eyes. “I can’t believe that punk
bastard hit you like that,” he grumbled.

I reached up and stroked the fading mark on his forehead.
“Looks like we both got it this time.”

Ellis sighed and pulled me into his arms. “I’m sorry. I
should have protected you.”

I smiled into his shoulder. “You can make it up to me,” I
told him.

Ellis leaned back. He grinned. “Alright then. What can I do
for you?”

I took a deep breath, looking at him seriously. “Let’s never
go back there,” I said.

Ellis gave me a dubious look. His eyes widened and his mouth
parted in shock. He was speechless, like I had asked him to commit murder or
something. The room was quiet for a moment. When Ellis finally spoke, his voice
was tense. “Have you ever been buried alive, Corrine?”

I shook my head. It was an odd question, but not as obvious
as it seemed. Ellis never spoke directly. He liked to talk in rhymes and
metaphors. Language was more than words to him. It was poetry.

“No, I’ve never been buried alive,” I said.

“Well I have. I’ve been buried so deep in the dark that I
can’t even see myself. And I’m trapped in it. I can hear people down there.
They’re sleeping. I’m the only one awake. And I’m screaming to get out because
there are a thousand hands down there pulling at me, trying to bury me even
farther in the dark.”

Being buried alive, I suppose I understood it now. After that
night on Marx Avenue, the world had changed. Had I finally awoken? Was I like
Ellis now, someone who had become aware of the dark?

“I can’t make that promise to you, Corrine,” Ellis said. “We
were so close last time. We could have seen the other side.”

“What if there is nothing to see?”

“You don’t believe that, otherwise you wouldn’t have
followed me. Something is going on. I’m sick of knowing nothing, Corrine. How
can I live like this, tracked and followed everywhere I go? These damn id
markers might as well be shackles and chains. That’s why my brother left. He
couldn’t take it. Everywhere you go, there are rules and regulations and
curfews. This city is a prison full of lies. Do you really want to die like
this? Do you want to spend the rest of your life being seduced by a lie, or do
you want to know the truth?”

He was doing it again, speaking like a Defiant. This was
dangerous talk. The mysterious
they
were listening. I could feel it.
Ellis knew it too. He was too inquisitive not to know. That’s why I was afraid.
Ellis knew he was being reckless, but he feared the dark far more than he
feared death.

I wanted to go with him to that new and unknown world. I
wanted to know what freedom was. Mother and Fern wouldn’t understand. To them,
this life of comfort was all they needed. But I wasn’t satisfied with comfort.
Even if the light blinded me, and the air of freedom overwhelmed me, I had to
feel it. I had to see it.

I looked at Ellis. “I want to know the truth.”

Ellis nodded. “Then we’ll find it... together.”

“Ellis, you’re here.”

We turned to see Fern entering the living room. “Hey. What’s
going on, little sis?” Ellis greeted.

Fern smiled. “Nothing much. You just came in right? I could
make you something hot to drink if you’d like.”

“Sure, I’ll have something quick. I need to get going soon.”
Fern smiled again then went into the kitchen. “Your sister’s so adorable,”
Ellis said.

“Don’t even think about it. You’re too old for her,” I
warned, “and too much of a trouble maker.”

Ellis grinned. He leaned back and placed his feet on the
coffee table. Sometimes he was so much like his brother it was laughable.
“Don’t take it the wrong way. Fern’s like a little sister to me. Besides, I
already have someone I like.”

I perked up at his confession. “Oh? You haven’t told me.”

“Should I?” he teased.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you should. I’m your best
friend,” I said, shoving his feet from the table.

Ellis shifted closer to me on the couch. “We should do a
trade then. I’ll tell you the captor of my heart, and you tell me yours.”

I frowned. “That isn’t fair. I really don’t have anyone like
that.”

Ellis placed a hand over his chest and sighed. “Ah, you
wound me deeply, Corrine,” he joked.

“Here’s your tea,” Fern said, rounding the couch. She handed
Ellis the cup. Their hands brushed briefly, and that small innocent touch made
her blush like a rose. Fern was naturally kind-hearted, but she had a special
sweetness reserved just for Ellis. I didn’t know when her infatuation had
begun, but it had continued throughout the years, all the way up to her
fifteenth birthday. And even though it was obvious, she never told me of her
feelings for Ellis.

“You said you have to leave soon. Where are you going?” Fern
asked.

Ellis glanced at me then sipped his tea. “Just around. Don’t
worry too much about it.”

Fern pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, giving Ellis a
suspicious look. “The last time you said that, you and Corrine nearly got
arrested.”

“Ah, those days are in the past. I promise, little sis,”
Ellis lied. He gave her a smile then went back to drinking his tea.

“Corrine, if you guys go out again. Let me come,” Fern said.

Ellis choked on his tea. I, on the other hand, glared at
her.

“Absolutely not,” I said.

“Why not? I hate being left behind while you guys... ”

Ellis waved his hand, setting the coffee mug on the table.
“Listen, little sis. You can’t just jump into the ocean without knowing how to
swim. What if you drown? What if a shark comes along? Well I’ll tell you, you’d
die because you didn’t know the way of the water. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Fern looked displeased, but she nodded anyway. “Don’t be too
upset about it,” Ellis said. “You’ll get there soon enough.”

“Now that I think about it,” Fern said. “How did you get
near the Z-Zone in the first place?”

“Everything has a weak spot,” Ellis told her. “Come here.
Let me show you.”

Fern moved around me and sat next to Ellis on the couch. He
placed his hands on her shoulders and moved her so her back was facing him.
“Our id markers are imbedded in our nervous system,” Ellis explained. He
brushed her hair aside to get a look at the tracker.

Fern flinched at his touch. I was embarrassed to admit it,
but I was a bit jealous that a single touch from Ellis could make her react
like that. I wanted to know what it was like to adore someone that much, to
look and see only them.

Ellis continued. “So what you do is, you pinch the area
around the marker until it feels numb.” He gripped the skin on her neck and
held it. “That, or you can press ice against it. When the tracker stops
glowing, that means the signal has been lost. It takes a while for it to reload
again.”

After several minutes, the light of Fern’s tracker died out.
“There you go. You’re invisible now,” Ellis said.

Fern turned around, bouncing in excitement. “I can’t believe
it! That’s amazing. Did you figure it out on your own?” Her eyes sparkled in
admiration, that brilliant glow so fragile and innocent it nearly broke my
heart. I wanted her to smile always. I wanted her happy. That’s why I would
protect her ignorance. I would venture into the dark myself, so she would never
know what it was like to be buried alive. I would wake her when the time was
right, when the darkness fled and the sun shined once again.

“Actually, my brother figured it out just before he left.
It’s sort of a family secret, so don’t tell anyone,” Ellis said.

“I won’t. I swear,” Fern promised.

Ellis stroked her cheek then gave her a pat on the shoulder.
“I should get going now, especially before your mom comes back. Thanks for the
tea,” he said standing.

“You’re welcome,” Fern blushed. She held her face where
Ellis had touched her.

I walked Ellis to the door. He hugged me all of a sudden and
whispered in my ear. “Tomorrow night. Let’s go find the truth.”