The Dark Wind
The dark wind was blowing in from the North, it was thick with ice crystals and death. There was no where to go, the pyramid was all they had and the wind was already howling around it’s sides. “Quick inside!” Aten ordered pointing with webbed fingers, Eiru related the command and the stockier land apes hurtled past them not needing to be told twice. He couldn’t see an alternative. The air was subliming on the smooth sides of the structure, rounding it with ice crystalising out of nothing. He looked once to the sky but knew that there would be no flyer – any that attempted landing now would be shredded.
But was he just exchanging the manor in which they would all perish?
There were stocks in the pyramid but not much, he had no idea how long they could be trapped before Itsu got worried and came looking. He ran through the resources in his head. They had been due to leave. The wagons contained most of the supplies and were ready to go, a submarine awaited them at the coast. A flyer should have been picking him up to fly him straight. He fought the wind to gaze down and was relieved to see that some of his people were attempting to get the supplies, wagons, creatures and all, into the pyramid.
The ice air burnt his skin and he found the door was already almost iced shut, he heaved, cutting his hand on the slick ice. A crack and a groan and the door opened. Once inside he found that ice had already reformed on the rim and he could not close the door. He left it and hurried down the stairs to the lower levels.
He ran through the hall ways, bare feet slapping, they were sore and aching from the cold.
At the base a blizzard was swirling in the atrium and people were desperately trying to smash ice away from the doorway where a cart was wedged. Six people and three carts were still outside. ‘The other entrances!’ he shouted but his soft syllabants were lost over the fierce roar of the wind and the hysteria of the group.
He ploughed into the the middle of them repeating his order and more. Getting the supplies passed over the barrier that the cart had made but those outside where struggling, they could barely move their mittened hands. He had never seen anything like it. There was no way it was natural. He clicked his pointy teeth together at the thought of the Core. Would they never give up? Never let his people… they’re own people have a future? All for some dangerously stupid idea of purity.
‘Architect!’ came a cry from behind him.
He turned to the frantic woman, ‘The other doors are frozen shut or snowed in or something.’
He turned to the dwindling gap and the stuck cart. ‘Move back!’ he shouted and removed a small cylinder from his padded jacket, he lay his fingers on it in a gentle dance, as if it were a cord keyboard and he had messages to send. Then he raised the light pen, and laser light shot out and sliced the cart apart. The animal that had been tether to it shied in fear. There was a heart stopping scream and a wail but four people scrambled in, lethargic and crusted in white.
There was a twitching body and another huddled over it, ‘Come in!’ he called. The woman attending the twitching mound turned bitter eyes to him.
A mittened hand tugged at his arm, ‘come Architect we must get deeper in the pyramid. Leave her.’
He allowed himself to be pulled away, but her eyes would always stare at him. The ice was closing over the entrance. Aten had 40, no, under 40, people to look after. There had to be a way to survive this. How long would they be trapped?
The climate had been changing, they knew that but this was so sudden. They reassembled Little Babel as best they could, the optronics computer was missing components that were now sitting out in the snow.
He got it working though and began the number crunching whilst others assessed the food situation and the air vents and a host of other things. Eiru gave him the news he was expecting, ‘most of the food is still outside, air situation is not good. I can rev the poncis garden back up to speed but that will take a while. How long do you think we will be stuck.’
Aten stared at min-Babels read outs, ‘I think what ever caused this storm is going to lock down at least this northern most continent, we are already being buried in snow. I honestly do not know. But with their shorter life spans the E.V.E. will not see the outside world again, and without intervention the landapes are somewhat more fragile than us.’ He frowned showing just the tips of his sharp teeth over his lip.
‘The pods?’ Eiru asked.
He nodded and then grabbed the girls hand, ‘Everyone except you and me is to go into suspension, I know it is only meant for those who are dying but there is no choice.’
‘You have the tranquiliser pellets?’ she asked.
He pointed to a cupboard. He did not know the likely hood of any of them awakening from the suspended sleep and they all knew that. They would not go willingly. His gut churned at the decision. How long would it take for Itsu or Punku to notice they were missing, would he be able to come and find them and if not could Aten actually dig them out once the snow had settled?
Little Babel made a bink noise and he looked down, the model he’d set up predicted that it would take a min of two hundred years to get out of here. There was a crash and shouting and he rushed to the door. Eiru was backed into a corner, held by her thin delicate neck by the largest of the land apes, all the other people land or aquatic or hibred lay sparked out but this one had need more than the normal dosage. Aten swung his light pen from his pocket once more , changing the settings he zapped and the large man collapsed, gasping his assistant thanked him and they began the task of maybe saving his people and maybe murdering them.
He clicked his teeth in anger.
Posted: Thursday, November 6th, 2014 @ 9:55 am
Categories: Flash Fiction, The Punks World.
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