The Tunnel - Part 10

As soon as they were out of the dome, Atesta could not believe what she was seeing.  Water was coming over the top of the amazingly tall wall encircling this amazingly beautiful city.  Water was pouring in like waterfalls.  If she did not know better, she would think it was a beautiful sight.

They boarded some of the floating platforms and floated up towards the tallest building in the city. She noticed that the usual traffic of floating platforms was nowhere to be seen.  It was like the city had been abandoned.  

Atesta looked over the walls and saw a world completely flooded.  In the distance, the fort where she arrived seemed to be floating in the water.  The only thing visible in a world covered with water all the way to the horizon.

Once they arrived at the building, the platforms docked on the side and the glass panels opened.  She had seen this before.  Inside, there was a lot of activity.  A lot or resistance people, with their dirty yellow jumpsuits, were moving things around and setting up what looked like dormitories, and kitchens, and infirmaries as people that looked tired, hurt, hungry, and blinded by the daylight kept pouring in from floating platforms docked all along the building.  Children too.

Atesta asked Marcato who this people were, where they were coming from, and if she could help somehow.  Marcato asked her if she could take care of the children while she went to coordinate the next phase of the assault.

Before he left, Atesta asked Marcato when she would see her father.  Marcato explained that her father had left this world on a very important mission for the resistance and that they were preparing to go there.  It will be soon.  Atesta again felt somehow that her father needed her.  She felt a tightness inside her that she had never felt before.  

She remembered the days back in her world when they would explore her world and write their sightings and learnings in their map.  When they would just sit there, enjoy nature, and just talk about things.  It all seemed like a lifetime ago.  She missed those days in the village with mother making everything feel good and safe.  The village traditions.  The festivals.

Atesta got busy making sure the children were looked after.  Some were injured, some were hungry, some were scared.  But most of all, they could not stop looking outside the windows to the vastness outside.  To the gleaming city with its amazing wall around it and the vast ocean outside the walls.  

Atesta met a boy that seemed to be her same age.  He was also helping take care of the children.  When the boy looked at her, he stopped what he was doing and asked her who she was. Atesta introduced herself and the boy told her his name was Paris. Atesta told him that she was not from this world and that she was here to find her father.  

All of a sudden, the boy realized she was Lorca's daughter.  He approached her, and he hugged her, and he thanked her for everything, and he told her not to worry that they were going to find him. Paris also told her that he was pledging to her that he would do anything in his power to get him back, even if it was the last thing he did. He told her that thanks to him, he finally understood the meaning of life.

Atesta started to cry.   She knew what he meant.

After getting the children settled, fed, and mended, Paris and Atesta sat down to talk more.  Paris told her that in his world in the caves light was scarce and artificially generated, and that the biggest cave was only the size of this room.  Throughout the years the people living in the caves had developed a functioning society.  They had carved an underground city with rooms and passages everywhere.  They had built schools, food halls, kitchens, dormitories, all connected with tunnels going up and down.  With the electricity they generated with the water coming down from the surface and into the caves, they also developed farms that grew crops with artificial light.  The plants' photosynthesis helped purify the air.

Atesta asked Paris how it was that they ended up living in the caves when there was such a beautiful world and city on the surface. Paris explained that it all started when they arrived on the planet.  At first, people would rotate working in the caves to lower the water levels so they could build a city.  After a few years, the water had receded far enough that meadows began to appear and the building of the city began.

During those time, while working in the caves, my father discovered the cube and its healing and energy powers.  The cube became a shared resource for all to use when needed.  However, when the plague hit Calarrosa, Partica, who was the elected leader at the time, became obsessed with the idea of using the healing powers of the cube to take over society.  By controlling who got access to the healing powers of the cube, he demanded onerous taxes from people.  

When the people began to revolt, he sealed the caves with 90,000 people inside and turned them into a prison. The people in the city became Partica's accomplices and enablers.  They turned a blind eye to what he was doing as long as they had access to all the riches of the planet and the healing powers of the cube.  Today, there are only 1,432 of us but we are strong and we have a plan thanks to your father. 

Paris turned around when he heard a loud sound outside.  The walls encircling the city were finally collapsing and water was flooding the streets.  Paris turned around and told Atesta that they do not have a lot of time and they needed to leave now before the portal closed.

Paris and Atesta took a floating platform and headed towards the fort in the horizon.  Now completely surrounded by water.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 9

In that moment, a big rumbling was felt outside the hatch, like an earthquake.  Atesta could not tell whether the people inside the dome were scared, or simply surprised, but it was certainly something that she had not seen in them before because everybody turned to look at it.

Atesta asked Partica what that rumbling was.  Partica ignored the question and asked Atesta again where the cube was.  This time with a more menacing tone as Partica stood up and began to approach Atesta.

Atesta finally understood that the cube was the key to finding her father.  There was something about the cube that was extremely important to Partica.  Desperation crossed Atesta's mind.  So, Atesta responded by saying that the cube was in a safe place and that she would be happy to give it to Partica but first Partica needed to help her find her father.

As she was telling this thought to Partica, one of the guards came running and yelling that Level 2 evacuation was now being carried out and immediately led Partica to a very small hatch in the back of the dome where all the people were now squeezing through.  Partica instructed the guard to grab Atesta and forcefully lead her to the small hatch.  She was coming with them.

Atesta was the last one in line waiting to get through the hatch.  The guard strongly holding her by the arm.  The noise and vibrations at the front gate were getting louder when all of a sudden the main hatch exploded and crashed open.

She turned around and saw people coming in.  Strangely, water was also rushing in at their feet.  Could it be that the water had gone over the city wall and the city was now flooded?  Atesta was wondering who these people were and where they came from.  She noticed that they looked different than anybody she had met in Calarrosa.  They were all tall and strong, with long dark hair, the men with long dark beards, they were dirty, and they were all wearing dirty yellow jumpsuits.  Atesta also noticed that they were all armed with something that looked like weapons made of a strange shinny metal with red glowing tips.

The leader of the armed group ran to the back of the dome and grabbed Atesta by the hand before she was she was pushed through the small hatch.  He pulled her hard enough to break the guard's grip.  The guard startled hurried through the hatch and closed it behind him leaving Atesta with the armed invaders.

Atesta did not know if she had been rescued or if she was being taken prisoner by a group of savages.  Before she could say anything, the person holding her hand told her not to worry and that her father had sent him here.

He introduced himself as Marcato, the leader of the resistance, and explained that she was in grave danger and that her father was in a safe place, for now.

Atesta had a thousand questions but before she could ask any of them, Marcato quickly explained that Partica was a despot ruler that had enslaved most of Calarrossa's population shortly after they arrived to the planet with the help of the cube.  He explained that Partica was 20,000 years old when the average life span for people here is only 500 years.  The cube had allowed Partica to literally become immortal. And by holding on and administering the healing powers of the cube only to those that did his bidding he has been able to maintain control.

Marcato explained that not long ago, the salt caves began to fill up with water and Partica started forcing people to go down into the caves to drill additional holes and wells to prevent the planet from being covered in water again.  With time, those people down there were forced to work around the clock, hungry, prisoners, and unable to visit their loved ones on the surface. It was then that the resistance was born.

Another explosion outside interrupted and startled Marcato. The water coming into the dome from the main hatch began to pour in faster. It was up to their knees now.  Marcato motion to his people that it was time to leave and told Atesta that they can continue their conversation once they were in a safe place.

Before leaving, Atesta stopped Marcato and asked if her father was safe, Marcato said, no.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 8

The sky was a strange color of pink.  Atesta figured this is what nights looked like in Calarrosa.  She also saw the sky reflected in what looked like a mirror extending outward from the walls of the city all the way to the mountains far in the horizon.  It was water.  And it was rising.

She saw people all over the city moving towards the base of the wall and entering what looked hatches that led underground.  At that moment, she saw the same guard that greeted her the day before float up to the window in his floating platform.  The window opened and she asked her to step out.  His voice had a sense of urgency that worried her.  She asked what was going on.

He said he would explain on the way to the underground shelters but that they needed to go now.

As they floated out to the farthest part of the wall he explained that this planet was once totally underwater.  When the first inhabitants arrived from Aztlan, they set out to create some land to rebuild their culture.  Aztlan was a far away world that was slowly destroyed by overpopulation.  When the people their went over the resource exploitation tipping point, things unraveled quickly.  The story says that in the period of 1 year, Aztlan became a barren, uninhabitable planet devoid of life.

It is still not understood why or how but during that year a portal opened between Aztlan and Calarrosa. So the exodus began.  This was 23,000 years ago.  At first a group of scientists and engineers arrived to figure out how to create land for the people from Aztlan which would be arriving in 1 year's time.  Eventually, after careful geological exploration, they discovered a network of deep salt caves that could hold huge amounts of water.  So they created these gates that would connect the surface to these caves to begin to funnel some of the surface water underground.  They also thought, clever as they were, that this would be like a waterfall so they installed massive underground electric generators to power their future city without any pollution.

The guard explained that when the migration started, the engineers and scientists had managed to clear about 1% of the surface of Calarrosa, which is the land you see today.  All 100,000 people from Aztlan arrived and came through the same fort in the middle of the meadow where Atesta had arrived.  What they saw was hard to believe.  A world that was so beautiful, with beautiful meadows, nascent vegetation and flowers, beautiful and colorful mountains, that from that point forward they vowed to take care and protect like they had never done before.  This nature-protectionist mantra became part of who they became and who they are now.

They finally arrived at one of the hatches at the foot of the massive wall encircling the city.  They opened it, went in, and closed it behind them.  It was a well appointed room in the shape of a half-sphere, shiny and made out of the same material as the wall.  No seems.  Just smooth.

Inside Atesta saw about 100 people.  As soon as they entered the room, the most beautiful being she had ever seen began walking towards her.  Atesta was unable to determine if this being was a man or a woman but the being was smiling and its presence was calming and reassuring.  Atesta found herself strangely drawn and somehow implicitly trusting it.

The being was tall and its turban and caftan where beautifully embroidered.  A coat of arms with an arm holding 3 arrows was in the front of the turban and a larger one in the back of the flowing caftan that went all the way to the floor.

The being welcomed Atesta to Calarrossa, introduced itself as Partica, and apologized for the present circumstances and emergency they were under.  Atesta noticed that Partica had not opened its mouth or move its lips to communicate this.  It was communicating directly into Atesta's mind and it was as clear and indistinguishable as real speech. It was disconcerting at first.

Partica asked Atesta to follow.  They went to a small drawing room in the back of the dome so they could talk.  Partica asked Atesta if she was hungry as Partica began pouring what looked like tea into cups that seemed to be made of the same smooth material as everything else in Calaroosa.

Once situated, Partica asked Atesta if she could tell her story.  Where she was from, what her world was like, about her family, why she left, about her journey, how she had arrived here, and, most importantly, why she was here in Calarrosa.  Atesta did not understand why she felt she could share everything so she told Partica everything.  She could not resist. Partica's presence extended into her being and permeated it with this feeling of trust and familiarity that Atesta found strange at times but could not explain why.

Once Atesta finished, Partica asked her were the cube was.  Atesta found the question strange, too direct.  Of all the things Partica could have asked, why was the cube so important.  So she asked before answering.

Partica explained that this cube belonged to Calarrosa, and more specifically, to Partica, and that her father had stolen it.

All of a sudden, Partica's expression changed.  Atesta felt the anger, and all of a sudden, she knew she was not supposed to be there.

TO BE CONTINUED ...