| Generated by Google Flow text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3.1 |
August 29, 2526. Notus Konn and the small group of survivors that he fell in
with are in the northern polar region, but not quite safe yet. They have
been walking somberly for about a day now, but have not gotten very far
since the terrain is so treacherous, and they have no idea how far they have
to go. They stop to rest, but no longer have a vacuum tent to stretch out
in, so they just lie down in their suits. They’ve grown rather used to the
confinement, even Notus, who is only with this particular group because he
got claustrophobic and freaked out while with his original group. The air is
cleaner here, but still not breathable. It never was outside of the domes.
Calypso notices Notus away from the group during one of their breaks,
tapping on his interface, and sometimes pointing it towards the beetloid,
which they have named Heracles. “I couldn’t help but notice that you’re
pretty handy with that thing. Most of the Breckenridgers have to ask for
help just turning the screen back on.”
“I’m from Leviss,” Notus explains.
“Wait, that’s not what you said before,” Calypso contends. “You said you
weren’t used to confined space because Breckenridge is so open. That’s why
you, uhh...”
“Had a mental breakdown in the rover? That’s because Leviss doesn’t have any
cars, and I already am claustrophobic. I was born there, and then my family
moved to Breckenridge when I was eleven. I’m not familiar with this tech,
but it’s not so different from what I originally grew up with.”
“Truthfully, I didn’t know that anyone did that.”
“It’s rare,” Notus admits. “Most Levins are too used to technology to give
it up, and most Breckenridgers are afraid of it. But my family lived in a
more rural area of our dome, so while we had computers, we had a lot more
experience with manual labor, and a more physical lifestyle. Breckenridge
wasn’t a hard sell.”
“I’m not afraid of technology,” Calypso argues.
“Fear is a strong word,” Notus decides. “How about
unaccustomed and wary?”
“I’ll take it,” Calypso determines. She waits a moment. “So, what exactly
are you doing with that thing?”
He smiles at her. “This.” After one more tap, Heracles jumps into the air,
and flies way above their heads. The others sitting on the rocks watch it
go.
“What’s it doing up there?” Shimizu asks.
Notus switches his comms to address the whole group. “It’s getting us to
where we’re going.” He monitors the progress on his screen until it beeps.
He pivots on the ground and points. “On the other side of that mountain is a
canyon. The first stable dome we’ve seen in days is at the bottom of that
canyon. I believe there is some means of getting down there quickly too.
Heracles is picking up a much closer signal too.”
“Are there people there?” Calypso asks him.
“It seems to be picking up chatter, but it doesn’t have authorization to
listen in. So yeah, I think so, but we won’t be able to talk to them until
we get closer.”
Shimizu stands back up, and slaps his knees. “Then let’s get on with it. For
Breanna and Cash.” He takes lead down the natural trail, towards the
mountain.
Notus holds back for a moment, looking up at Heracles who is coming back
down to the ground. He pats it on the head, echoing Cash from the other day.
“Good boy.”
Mountain might be a strong word, and probably canyon too. It’s
not long before they reach the edge. Inside the canyon is a much smaller
dome than the kind that they’re used to. It can still probably fit thousands
of people, but it had to be made compact to fit within the walls. Not too
far from where they come out, they see the manmade structure that Heracles
was detecting. “Does anybody know what this is?” Shimizu asks.
“It’s called a gondola,” Notus answers, looking at his HUD. “Also known as a
cable car, it was invented in 1616 by Fausto Veranzio—”
“Yeah, no one cares about that,” Shimizu interrupts. “If it can get us down
to the dome where I can finally take this blasted thing off forever, that’s
all I need to know.”
“Let’s ask this person,” Calypso suggests.
A suited individual is coming out of a small habitat at the top of the
gondola. They’re still really far away, but they send out a communication
request, which everyone in the group accepts. “There is nothing for you
here. Please keep moving along.”
“Please—” Notus begins, only to be interrupted by Shimizu again.
“We demand sanctuary. The world is dying, and we all need to do our part to
save the human race from extinction.”
“The human race is not going to go extinct because less than ten people
can’t get into our dome, which is at full capacity.” The gatekeeper
points. “If you just keep walking that way, you will reach the next dome
over. I’m sure it has plenty of room. Well, I don’t know that, but I know
that we definitely don’t, so keep walkin’.”
Shimizu shakes his head. “We’re not leaving her until you let us in, you—”
Now Notus is the one to interrupt. “We thank you for your graciousness sir,
and only ask that you allow us to take rest in your habitat. We have been
wearing these suits for so long, and had to leave our vacuum tent behind.
Please, if you could grant us this one favor, as well as facilitate contact
with one of your leaders on the ground, we would much appreciate it. I’m
sure we can work something out.”
The stranger says nothing for a moment, and as they are nowhere near him,
the survivors can’t read his face to see which way he might be leaning.
“What is that thing you have with you? The robot thing.”
“Heracles, our beetloid,” Notus answers.
“He saved my life,” Calypso interjects.
“I’ll tell you what, you let me have Heracles—which is a dumb name, by the
way, so I’ll be changing it—and I’ll think about letting you take a
break in here.”
When Shimizu lunges, Notus holds him back, even though the gap between the
two parties remains significant. “We’re not going to do that. You have just
made us a bad faith offer, which tells us that there is nothing we can do to
convince you to help. But you should know that I am the grandson of the
Leviss Magistrate, and she has heavy pull in the greater Proxima Domanian
government. I will be reporting your actions to the administration.
I’ll also be recommending that they evacuate your dome immediately.”
“Ooo, I’m so scared,” the gatekeeper says sarcastically, holding his hands.
“Not the Magistrate of some dumb community that I’ve never even heard of.
Keep it movin’, pal. If you ain’t got a robot bug for me, I ain’t got a
pressurized habitat for you.”
Shimizu switches comms back to the group-only channel. “Way to go, asshole.”
“Trust me,” Notus says as he’s poring through the data that he siphoned from
the local network. “We don’t want nothing to do with that dome. It’s below
sea level.”
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